ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017

OR

¨

TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from to

Commission file number: 0-32259

_______________________________________________________

ALIGN TECHNOLOGY, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

_____________________________________________________________________

Delaware

94-3267295

(State or other jurisdiction of

incorporation or organization)

(I.R.S. Employer

Identification Number)

2820 Orchard Parkway

San Jose, California 95134

(Address of principal executive offices)

(408) 470-1000

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

______________________________________________________

Title of each class

Name of each exchange on which registered

Common Stock, $0.0001 par value

The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC

(NASDAQ Global Market)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ý No ¨

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act. Yes ¨ No ý

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ý No ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate website, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes ý No ¨

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. ý

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

Large accelerated filerx

Accelerated filer o

Non-accelerated filero

(Do not check if a smaller reporting company)

Smaller reporting companyo

Emerging growth company o

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ¨ No ý

The aggregate market value of the registrant’s common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant was $9,773,962,344 as of June 30, 2017 based on the closing sale price of the registrant’s common stock on the NASDAQ Global Market on such date. Shares held by persons who may be deemed affiliates have been excluded. This determination of affiliate status is not necessarily a conclusive determination for other purposes.

On February 23, 2018, 80,135,229 shares of the registrant’s common stock were outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the registrant’s definitive Proxy Statement relating to its 2018 Annual Stockholders’ Meeting to be filed pursuant to Regulation 14A within 120 days after the registrant’s fiscal year end of December 31, 2017 are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Invisalign, Align, the Invisalign logo, ClinCheck, Made to Move, Invisalign Assist, Invisalign Teen, Invisalign Go, Vivera, SmartForce, SmartTrack, SmartStage, Power Ridge, iTero, iTero Element, Orthocad, iCast and iRecord, among others, are trademarks and/or service marks of Align Technology, Inc. or one of its subsidiaries or affiliated companies and may be registered in the United States and/or other countries.

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In addition to historical information, this annual report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements include, among other things, our expectations regarding the anticipated impact of our new products and product enhancements will have on doctor utilization and our market share, our expectations regarding product mix and product adoption, our expectations regarding the existence and impact of seasonality, our expectations regarding the financial and strategic benefits of establishing regional order acquisition, treatment planning and manufacturing facilities, as well as the anticipated timing of such facilities being operational, our expectations regarding the continued expansion of our international markets, impact of the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the level of our operating expenses and gross margins and other factors beyond our control, as well as other statements regarding our future operations, financial condition and prospects and business strategies. These statements may contain words such as “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates,” or other words indicating future results. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in Item 2 “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” and in particular, the risks discussed below in Part I, Item 1A “Risk Factors.” We undertake no obligation to revise or update these forward-looking statements. Given these risks and uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.

PART I

ITEM 1.BUSINESS

Our Company

Align Technology, Inc (“We”, “Our”, “Align”) is a global medical device company engaged in the design, manufacture and marketing of Invisalign® clear aligners and iTero® intraoral scanners and services for orthodontics, restorative and aesthetic dentistry. Align’s products are intended primarily for the treatment of malocclusion or the misalignment of teeth and are designed to help dental professionals achieve the clinical outcomes that they expect. Align Technology was founded in March 1997 and incorporated in Delaware in April 1997. Our headquarters is located at 2820 Orchard Parkway, San Jose, California 95134, and our telephone number is 408-470-1000. Our internet address is www.aligntech.com. Our European headquarters is located in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and our Asia Pacific headquarters is located in Singapore.

We have two operating segments: (1) Clear Aligner and (2) Scanners and Services ("Scanner"). For the year ended December 31, 2017, Clear Aligner net revenues represent approximately 89% of worldwide net revenues, while Scanner represent the remaining 11% of worldwide net revenues. We sell the vast majority of our products directly to our customers: orthodontists and general practitioner dentists ("GPs"), as well as to restorative and aesthetic dentists, including prosthodontists, periodontists, and oral surgeons. Our Clear Aligner operating segment includes revenues from non-Invisalign aligners supplied to SmileDirectClub, LLC ("SDC"). Refer to "Supply Agreement with SmileDirectClub, LLC" section.

We received 510(k) clearance from the United States Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) to market the Invisalign System in 1998. The Invisalign System is regulated by the FDA as a Class II medical device. In order to provide Invisalign treatment to their patients, orthodontists and GPs must initially complete an Invisalign training course. The Invisalign System is sold primarily through a direct sales force in North America, Asia Pacific ("APAC"), Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Latin America. To date, over 5.2 million people worldwide have been treated with our Invisalign System.

Our iTero scanner is used by dental professionals and/or labs and service providers for restorative and orthodontic digital procedures as well as Invisalign case submission. We received 510(k) clearance from the FDA to market iTero software for expanded indications in 2013. Scanners and CAD/CAM Services are primarily sold through our direct sales force and a few distributors in North America, Europe and certain Asia Pacific countries, and through distribution partners in Thailand, Scandinavia and Russia.

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Our Products and Services

Our net revenues are generated from the sale of the following product offerings:

Fiscal Year

Percentage of Net Revenues by Product

2017

2016

2015

Clear Aligner Segment

Comprehensive Products

69

%

72

%

78

%

Non-Comprehensive Products

14

11

11

Non-Case Products

6

6

6

Total Clear Aligner Segment

89

89

95

Scanners Segment

11

11

5

Total Net Revenues

100

%

100

%

100

%

Clear Aligner Segment

Malocclusion and Traditional Orthodontic Treatment

Malocclusion, or the misalignment of teeth, is one of the most prevalent clinical dental conditions, affecting billions of people, or approximately 60% to 75% of the population. Annually, approximately 10 million people in major developed countries elect treatment by orthodontists worldwide. Most orthodontic patients are treated with the use of traditional methods such as metal arch wires and brackets, referred to as braces, and may be augmented with elastics, metal expanders, headgear or functional appliances, and other ancillary devices as needed. Upon completion of the treatment, the dental professional may, at his or her discretion, have the patient use a retainer appliance. Of the 10 million annual orthodontic cases started, approximately 60% or 6 million are applicable to Invisalign treatment - our served market. In addition, approximately 300 million people with malocclusion could benefit from straightening their teeth, but are unlikely to seek treatment through a doctor’s office. This represents an incremental opportunity for us as we expand the market for orthodontics by educating more consumers about the benefits of straighter teeth using Invisalign clear aligners and connect them with an Invisalign doctor of their choice.

The Invisalign System

The Invisalign System is a proprietary method for treating malocclusion based on a series of doctor-prescribed, custom manufactured, clear plastic, removable aligners. The Invisalign System offers a range of treatment options, specialized services, and proprietary software for treatment visualization and is comprised of the following phases:

Orthodontic diagnosis and transmission of treatment data to us. The Invisalign-trained dental professional prepares and sends us a patient’s treatment data package which consists of a prescription form, a polyvinyl-siloxane (or "PVS") impression of the relevant dental arches, photographs of the patient and, at the dental professional’s election, x-rays of the patient’s dentition. The Invisalign-trained dental professional can also submit an intraoral digital scan instead of a physical PVS impression through either Align's iTero scanner or several third-party scanners. See "Third Party Scanners and Digital scans for Invisalign treatment submission." More than 50% of Invisalign case submissions are submitted via digital scan instead of a physical PVS impression.

Preparation of computer-simulated treatment plan. Using propriety software which we do not sell, we generate a proposed custom, three-dimensional treatment plan, called a ClinCheck treatment plan. The ClinCheck treatment plan simulates appropriate tooth movement in stages and details timing and placement of any features or attachments that will be used during treatment. Attachments are tooth-colored “buttons” that are sometimes used to increase the biomechanical force on a specific tooth or teeth in order to effect the desired movement.

Review and approval of the treatment plan by an Invisalign provider. The patient’s ClinCheck treatment plan is then made available to the prescribing dental professional via the Invisalign Doctor Site which enables the dental professional to project tooth movement with a level of accuracy not previously possible with metal arch wires and brackets. By reviewing, modifying as needed and approving the treatment plan, the dental professional retains control over the treatment plan.

Manufacture of custom aligners. Upon the dental professional’s approval of the ClinCheck treatment plan, we use the data underlying the simulation, in conjunction with stereolithography technology (a form of 3D printing technology), to construct a series of molds depicting the future position of the patient’s teeth. Each mold is a replica of the patient’s teeth at each stage of the simulated course of treatment. From these molds, aligners are fabricated by pressure-forming polymeric sheets over each

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mold. Aligners are thin, clear plastic, removable dental appliances that are custom manufactured in a series to correspond to each stage of the ClinCheck treatment plan.

Shipment to the dental professional and patient aligner wear. All the aligners for a patient are shipped directly to the dental professional, who then dispenses them to the patient at regular check-up intervals throughout the treatment. Aligners are generally worn for a period of time which correspond to the stages of the approved ClinCheck treatment plan. The patient replaces the aligners with the next pair in the series when prescribed, advancing tooth movement with each aligner stage. Throughout treatment, the doctor may place attachments or use other auxiliaries to achieve desired tooth movements, per the doctor’s original prescription and resulting ClinCheck treatment plan. In October 2016, we introduced one-week aligner wear. At the treating doctor’s discretion, we recommend changing from two-week aligner wear to one-week aligner wear for Invisalign treatments with Invisalign Full, Invisalign Teen, Invisalign Assist, Invisalign Lite, and Invisalign Go products, thereby reducing treatment time by up to 50%. Align’s recommendation is based on clinical analysis of more than 200 in-progress Invisalign cases (data on file) and the experiences of numerous Invisalign providers.

Additional aligners. Should the dental professional determine that the treatment is not tracking for various reasons, such as patient compliance, certain teeth movement not tracking to plan, or they need to extend the treatment a few stages further to achieve their treatment goals, the dental professional can request additional aligners at no charge at any point during the treatment, subject to certain requirements.

Clear Aligner Products

Comprehensive Products - Invisalign Treatment Options:

Invisalign Full and Invisalign Teen. Used for a wide range of malocclusion, the Invisalign Full and Invisalign Teen treatment plans each consist of the number of aligners necessary to achieve the doctor’s treatment goals. The Invisalign Teen treatment includes all the features of Invisalign Full treatment, plus additional features that address the orthodontic needs of teenage patients such as compliance indicators, compensation for tooth eruption and six free single arch replacement aligners. Aligners for Invisalign Full and Invisalign Teen treatments (other than the replacement aligners) are manufactured and then delivered to the dental professionals in a single shipment. Both treatment options are sold in the U.S., Canada and our international countries.

Invisalign Assist. Used for anterior alignment and aesthetically-oriented cases, the Invisalign Assist treatment offers added support to our dental practitioners throughout the treatment process, including progress tracking that allows the dental professional to submit new impressions every nine stages. When the progress tracking feature is selected, aligners are shipped to the dental professional after every nine stages thereby helping to achieve successful treatment outcomes. Predominantly marketed to GPs, Invisalign Assist is intended to make it easier to select appropriate cases for their experience level or treatment approach, submit cases more efficiently and manage appointments with suggested tasks. Invisalign Assist is sold in the U.S. and Canada.

Non-Comprehensive Products - Invisalign Treatment Options:

Invisalign Express 10, Invisalign Express 5, Invisalign i7 and Invisalign Lite. Lower-cost solutions are used for less complex orthodontic cases, non-comprehensive treatment relapse cases, or straightening prior to restorative or cosmetic treatments such as veneers. Invisalign Express 10, Invisalign Express 5 and Invisalign i7 use up to 10 sets, 5 sets and 7 sets of aligners, respectively. Invisalign Lite use up to 14 sets of aligners. Non-comprehensive products are available in select country markets and delivered to the dental professionals in a single shipment.

Invisalign Go. A simplified and streamlined solution designed for GPs to more easily identify and treat patients with mild malocclusion. Invisalign Go combines case assessment support, a simplified ClinCheck treatment plan and a progress assessment feature for case monitoring. Invisalign Go is available in core European markets and in certain markets in North America and Asia Pacific.

SmileDirectClub Aligners. On July 25, 2016, we entered into a supply agreement with SmileDirectClub, LLC ("SDC") to manufacture non-Invisalign clear aligners for SDC's doctor-led, at-home program for simple teeth straightening. In October 2016, we became SDC's exclusive third-party supplier and began supplying aligners directly to SDC. SDC aligners include up to 20 stages without attachments or interproximal reduction ("IPR"). Align manufactures the aligners per SDC’s specifications for minor tooth movement using EX-30, our proprietary aligner material used prior to the introduction of SmartTrack. Align does

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not market or sell SDC products and ships supply of aligners directly to SDC when requested. Refer to "Supply Agreement with SmileDirectClub, LLC" section.

Non-Case Products:

Clear Aligner non-case products include retention products, Invisalign training fees and sales of ancillary products, such as cleaning material and adjusting tools used by dental professionals during the course of treatment.

Retention. We offer two products for post treatment retention. The first is a single set of custom clear aligner retainers. The second is offered as a set of four custom clear aligners called Vivera Retainers made with proprietary material strong enough to maintain tooth position and correct minor relapse if necessary. A shipment of four sets are available to both Invisalign and non-Invisalign patients.

Feature Enhancements

We have consistently introduced enhanced features across the Invisalign System over the past several years to improve treatment outcomes or address broader clinical indications. Feature enhancements are marketed primarily under an Invisalign “G” series and have included Invisalign G3 (launched in October 2010), Invisalign G4 (launched in November 2011), Invisalign G5 (launched in February 2014), Invisalign G6 (launched in March 2015), and Invisalign G7 (launched in October 2016).

Invisalign Teen with mandibular advancement (launched in March 2017) is the first clear aligner solution for Class II correction in growing tween and teen patients. This new offering combines the benefits of our clear aligner system with features for moving the lower jaw forward while simultaneously aligning the teeth. Invisalign with mandibular advancement offers a simpler, more efficient and patient-friendly treatment option than functional appliances and without the need for elastics typically used to treat teen Class II patients. Invisalign Teen with mandibular advancement is available is most country markets; however, it is pending 510(k) clearance in the U.S. and is not yet available for use.

SmartTrack™ Aligner Material

SmartTrack is a patented, custom-engineered Invisalign clear aligner material that delivers gentle, more constant force considered ideal for orthodontic tooth movements. Conventional aligner materials relax and lose a substantial percent of energy in the initial days of aligner wear, but SmartTrack maintains more constant force over the period of time the patient wears the aligners. The flexible SmartTrack material also more precisely conforms to tooth morphology, attachments and interproximal spaces to improve control of tooth movement throughout treatment.

Scanner Segment

Intraoral scanning is an emerging technology that we believe will have substantial impact on the future of dentistry. By enabling the dental practitioner to create a 3D image of the patient's teeth (digital scan) using a handheld intraoral scanner inside the mouth, digital scanning is more efficient and precise and more comfortable for patients, compared to the mess, discomfort and subjective nature of taking physical impressions. The digitally scanned model is more accurate than a physical impression and substantially reduces the rate of restoration "remakes" so patients are recalled less often and the appointment time for the restoration is shorter because of fewer adjustments which results in greater overall patient satisfaction. The digital model file can be used for various procedures and services including fabrication of physical dental models for use by labs to create restorative units such as veneers, inlays, onlays, crowns, bridges and implant abutments; digital records storage; orthodontic diagnosis; orthodontic retainers and appliances; and Invisalign digital impression submission.

iTero Scanner. The iTero Element scanner (launched in September 2015) is available as a single hardware platform with software options for restorative or orthodontic procedures. We market and sell the iTero Element in North America and in select international markets. The iTero scanner is interoperable with our Invisalign treatment such that a full arch digital scan can be submitted as part of the Invisalign case submission process. In addition, the Invisalign Outcome Simulator and Invisalign Assessment tool are exclusive to the iTero scanner. Prior to the launch of iTero Element, we sold the iTero 2.9 scanner.

Restorative software for iTero. Software designed for GPs, prosthodontists, periodontists, and oral surgeons which includes restorative workflows providing them with the ability to send digital impressions to the lab of choice and communicate seamlessly with external treatment planning, custom implant abutment, chairside milling, and laboratory CAD/CAM systems.

Orthodontic software for iTero. Software designed for orthodontists for digital records storage, orthodontic diagnosis, and for the fabrication of printed models and retainers.

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CAD/CAM Services

iTero Models and Dies. An accurate physical model and dies are manufactured based on the digital scan and sent to the laboratory of the dentist’s choice for completion of the needed restoration. The laboratory also has the option to export the digital file for immediate production of coping and full-contour restorations on their laboratory CAD/CAM systems. The laboratory conducts then completes the ceramic buildup or staining and glazing and delivers the end result - a precisely fitting restoration. iTero prosthetics have a near-zero remake rate.

OrthoCAD iCast. iCast provides a digital alternative to traditional stone cast models which allows for simplified storage and digital record retrieval. The iCast digital model contains a full American Board of Orthodontics ("ABO") base and is available from an iTero scan or from a traditional alginate impression.

OrthoCAD iRecord. iRecord scans provide a digital alternative to traditional stone cast models which allows for simplified storage and digital record retrieval. iRecord scan data may also be exported to orthodontic laboratories for the fabrication of retainers, orthodontic appliances, and hard model fabrication.

Third Party Scanners and Digital scans for Invisalign treatment submission. We support an open systems approach to digital scans and other intraoral scanning companies interested in qualifying their scanners to submit a digital impression in place of a traditional PVS impression as part of the Invisalign case submission process. We have qualified third party scanners for digital scan submission including 3M™ True Definition scanner, the Sirona CEREC Omnicam scanner and certain 3Shape TRIOS scanners. Information regarding legal proceedings associated with the scanner may be found in Item 3 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K under the heading “Legal Proceedings.”

iTero Applications and Tools

Invisalign Outcome Simulator. The Invisalign Outcome Simulator is an exclusive chair-side and cloud-based application for the iTero scanner that allows doctors to help patients visualize how their teeth may look at the end of Invisalign treatment through a dual view layout that shows a prospective patient an image of his/her own current dentition next to his/her simulated final position after Invisalign treatment.

Invisalign 3D Assessment tool. The Invisalign Progress Assessment tool provides the ability to compare a patient’s new scan with a specific stage of their ClinCheck treatment plan to visually assess and communicate Invisalign treatment progress with an easy to read, color-coded tooth movement report that allows the doctor to know how each tooth is tracking.

Our iTero Element scanner includes the Invisalign Outcome Simulator, Invisalign 3D Assessment tool and Timelapse as well as the orthodontic software and/or restorative software. The orthodontic or restorative software may also be purchased subsequently for an upgrade fee. Additional applications such as the Invisalign Outcome Simulator are not available for sale separately.

Other proprietary software mentioned in this Annual Report on Form 10-K such as ClinCheck and ClinCheck Pro software, the Invisalign Doctor Site,and enhanced feature solutions such as Invisalign G7 are included as part of the Invisalign System and are not sold separately nor do they contribute as individual items to revenue.

Business Strategy

Our goal is to give patients of all ages access to the smiles they want and deserve. Our smile-changing technology and innovations are designed to meet the demands of today’s patients with treatment options that are convenient, comfortable, affordable, while helping to improve overall oral health. We strive to help our doctors move their practices forward by connecting them with new patients, providing digital solutions to help increase practice efficiency and helping them deliver the best possible treatment outcomes and experiences to millions of people around the world.

We achieve this by continued focus and execution of our strategic growth drivers:

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1.

International Expansion. In order to provide the millions of consumers access to a better smile, we continue increasing our presence globally by making our products available in more countries. We expect to continue to grow and expand our business by investing in resources, infrastructure, and initiatives that will drive Invisalign treatment growth in our current and new international markets. As our core countries within the EMEA and APAC regions continue to grow in both number of new Invisalign providers and customer utilization, we strive to make sure we can support that growth through investments such as headcount, clinical support, education and advertising. We have transitioned most of our indirect smaller country markets to a direct sales model, and, while we do not expect a material impact from these countries for some time, in the near term, we will leverage our existing infrastructure in adjacent country markets as we build local sales organizations to drive long-term market penetration. In addition, we are scaling and expanding our operations and facilities to better support our customers across the globe. In 2017, we opened new treatment planning facilities in Chengdu, China and Cologne, Germany to support our customers within these regions.

2.

Orthodontist Utilization. We continue to innovate and increase the product applicability and predictability to address a wide range of cases, from simple to complex, thereby enabling providers to confidently treat teenagers and adults with the Invisalign System. Over the last several years, we launched clinical innovations such as Invisalign G6 and Invisalign G7. In March 2017, we launched Invisalign with mandibular advancement, the first clear aligner solution for Class II correction in growing tween and teen patients. This new offering combines the benefits of the most advanced clear aligner system in the world with features for moving the lower jaw forward while simultaneously aligning the teeth. Approximately 30% to 45% of teen cases need Class II correction. Invisalign with mandibular advancement was launched in Canada, EMEA and APAC. It is pending 510(k) approval in the U.S. and therefore not currently available in the U.S. We also continue to make improvements to our Invisalign treatment software, ClinCheck Pro, designed to deliver an exceptional user experience and increase treatment control to help our doctors achieve their treatment goals.

3.

GP Dentist Treat & Refer. We want to enable GPs, who have access to a large patient base, to more easily identify Invisalign cases they can treat, monitor patient progress or, if needed, help refer cases to an orthodontist while providing high-quality restorative, orthodontic, and dental hygiene care. The iTero scanner is an important component to that customer experience and is central to a digital approach as well as overall customer utilization of Invisalign treatment. The iTero scanner is optimized for Invisalign treatment with the Invisalign Outcome Simulator and Progress Assessment tool. In June 2017, we launched TimeLapse technology that allows doctors or practitioners to compare a patient’s 3D historic scans to the present-day scan, enabling clinicians to identify and measure orthodontic movement, tooth wear, and gingival recession. This highlights areas of diagnostic interest to dental professionals and helps foster a proactive conversation with the patient regarding potential restorative or orthodontic solutions. We also signed a distribution agreement with Patterson Dental for the iTero Element intraoral scanning system in the U.S. and Canada effective September 2017. Lastly, as part of expanding restorative workflows for iTero, in Q4 2017, we signed a distribution agreement with Glidewell Dental for the iTero Element scanner in North America with glidewell.ioTM In-Office Solution, a chairside restorative ecosystem designed to simplify the process of prescribing and delivering laboratory-quality dental restorations.

4.

Patient Demand & Conversion. Our goal is to make Invisalign a highly recognized name brand worldwide by creating awareness for Invisalign treatment among consumers, motivating potential patients to seek Invisalign treatment and reaching more consumers. We accomplish this objective through an integrated consumer marketing strategy that includes television, media, social networking and event marketing as well as educating patients on treatment options and directing them to high volume Invisalign providers. In January 2017, we launched a new Smile Concierge program with the objective to help more U.S. consumers start Invisalign treatment and improve their overall experience by shortening their research cycles and utilizing consumer insights to help our doctors better engage with consumers. Our Smile Concierge program educates consumers on the benefits of Invisalign treatment, answers their questions, and helps them schedule an appointment with an Invisalign provider. In addition, as an extension of our direct-to-consumer channel and building on the Smile Concierge program, we opened our first Invisalign store pilot program in November 2017 aimed at connecting potential patients directly to doctors for Invisalign treatment by educating consumers on how Invisalign works, showing them a scan-driven simulation of how they might look with straighter teeth, and offering to connect interested consumers with an Invisalign doctor of their choice should they decide to pursue treatment (Refer to Note 4 "Equity Method Investments" of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for a communication received from SDC on Invisalign store pilot program).

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Supply Agreement with SmileDirectClub, LLC

On July 28, 2016, we announced a supply agreement with SmileDirectClub, LLC to manufacture non-Invisalign clear aligners for SDC’s doctor-led, at-home program for affordable, cosmetic teeth straightening. The agreement brings our manufacturing and production expertise to a new and growing segment of the adult treatment market, one that provides new treatment choices to consumers and new business opportunities to Invisalign providers.

Beginning October 2016, we became SDC’s exclusive third-party supplier for its minor tooth movement aligner program. Specifically, we provide a case setup through SDC’s SmileCheck viewer portal and upon review and approval by a participating licensed orthodontist or general dentist in SDC’s network, we manufacture clear aligners and ship them directly to SDC. While we are SDC's only third-party supplier, SDC also manufactures some of their own aligners.

SDC aligners include up to 20 stages without attachments or IPR. We manufacture the aligners per SDC’s specifications for minor tooth movement using EX-30. Align does not market or sell SDC products.

In addition, under the agreement, Align and SDC created a new Invisalign doctor referral program similar to the Invisalign Doctor Locator, that systematically refers a portion of case assessments that are too complex for their minor tooth movement product, to Invisalign providers in the patient’s local area. The goal of the agreement is to help expand the market and opportunity for our Invisalign doctors, while supporting SDC’s efforts to provide consumers with access to more choices in treating simple cases from the convenience of their own home. The Invisalign brand and system of clear aligners continue to be available exclusively for in office treatment with Invisalign-trained orthodontists and general dentists.

Manufacturing and Suppliers

Our manufacturing facilities are located in Juarez, Mexico, where we conduct our aligner fabrication, distribute and repair our scanners and perform our CAD/CAM services, and in Or Yehuda, Israel where we produce our handheld intraoral scanner wand and perform the final assembly of our iTero scanner. Our Invisalign digital treatment planning and interpretation for iTero restorative cases are conducted primarily at our facility located in San Jose, Costa Rica; however, in 2017, we opened new treatment planning facilities in Chengdu, China and Cologne, Germany to support our customers within these regions. Information regarding risks associated with our manufacturing process and foreign operations may be found in Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K under the heading “Risk Factors.”

Our quality system is required to be in compliance with the Quality System regulations enforced by the FDA, and similar regulations enforced by other worldwide regulatory authorities. We are certified to EN ISO 13485:2003, an internationally recognized standard for medical device manufacturing. We have a formal, documented quality system by which quality objectives are defined, understood and achieved. Systems, processes and procedures are implemented to ensure high levels of product and service quality. We monitor the effectiveness of the quality system based on internal data and direct customer feedback and strive to continually improve our systems and processes, taking corrective action, as needed.

Since the manufacturing process of our products requires substantial and varied technical expertise, we believe that our manufacturing capabilities are important to our success. In order to produce our highly customized, highly precise, medical quality products in volume, we have developed a number of proprietary processes and technologies. These technologies include complex software algorithms and solutions, CT scanning, stereolithography and automated aligner fabrication. To increase the efficiency of our manufacturing processes, we continue to focus our efforts on software development and the improvement of rate-limiting processes or bottlenecks. We continuously upgrade our proprietary, three-dimensional treatment planning software to enhance computer analysis of treatment data and to reduce time spent on manual and judgmental tasks for each case, thereby increasing the efficiency of our technicians. In addition, to improve efficiency and increase the scale of our operations, we continue to invest in the development of automated systems for the fabrication and packaging of aligners.

We are highly dependent on manufacturers of specialized scanning equipment, rapid prototyping machines, resin and other advanced materials for our aligners, as well as the optics, electronic and other mechanical components of our intraoral scanners. We maintain single supply relationships for many of these machines and materials technologies. In particular, our CT scanning and stereolithography equipment used in our aligner manufacturing and many of the critical components for the optics of our intraoral scanners are provided by single suppliers. We are also committed to purchasing all of our resin and polymer, the primary raw materials used in our manufacturing process for clear aligners, from a single source. The need to replace one of our single source suppliers could cause a disruption in our ability to timely deliver certain of our products or increase costs. See Item 1A Risk Factors — “We maintain single supply relationships for certain of our key machines and materials technologies, and our business andoperating results could be harmed if supply is restricted or ends or the price of raw materials used in our manufacturing process increases.”

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Sales and Marketing

Our sales efforts are focused primarily on the Invisalign System and continuing to increase adoption and utilization by orthodontists and GPs worldwide. In North America, Europe, certain Asia Pacific country markets, and, more recently in Brazil and certain countries in the Middle East and Africa, we have direct sales and support organizations, which includes quota carrying sales representatives, sales management and sales administration. We also have distribution partners that sell the Invisalign System in smaller non-core international country markets. We continued to expand in our existing markets through targeted investments in sales resources, professional marketing and education programs, along with consumer marketing in select country markets.

For the iTero scanner, we have a small team of direct sales representatives and a few distributors in North America who leverage leads generated by our Invisalign sales and marketing resources, including customer events and industry trade-shows. We sell the iTero scanner in select country markets internationally and will expand to additional markets over time to grow the scanner business.

We provide training, marketing and clinical support to orthodontists and GPs. As of December 31, 2017, we had approximately 64,400 active Invisalign providers.

Research and Development

We are committed to investing in world-class technology development, which we believe is critical to achieving our goal of establishing the Invisalign System as the standard method for treating malocclusion and our intraoral scanning platform as the preferred scanning protocol for digital scans. Our research and development expenses were $97.6 million, $75.7 million and $61.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively.

Our research and development activities are directed toward developing the technology innovations that we believe will deliver our next generation of products and platforms. These activities range from accelerating product and clinical innovation to developing manufacturing process improvements to researching future technologies and products.

In an effort to demonstrate Invisalign’s broad treatment capabilities, various clinical case studies and articles have been published that highlight the clinical applicability of Invisalign to malocclusion cases, including those of severe complexity. We undertake pre-commercialization trials and testing of our technological improvements to the product and manufacturing process.

Intellectual Property

We believe our intellectual property position represents a substantial business advantage. As of December 31, 2017, we had 420 active U.S. patents, 456 active foreign patents, and 416 pending global patent applications.

We continue to pursue further intellectual property protection through U.S. and foreign patent applications and non-disclosure agreements. Certain of our issued U.S. patents expired in 2017. In addition, corresponding foreign patents will start to expire in 2018. Our active U.S. patents expire between 2018 and 2035. When patents expire, we lose the protection and competitive advantages they provided to us, which could negatively impact our operating results; however, we continue to pursue further intellectual property protection through U.S. and foreign patent applications and non-disclosure agreements. We also seek to protect our software, documentation and other written materials under trade secret and copyright laws. We cannot be certain that patents will be issued as a result of any patent application or that patents that have been issued to us or that may be issued in the future will be found to be valid and enforceable and sufficient to protect our technology or products. Our intellectual property rights may not be successfully asserted in the future or may be invalidated, circumvented or challenged. In addition, the laws of various foreign countries do not protect our intellectual property rights to the same extent as U.S. laws. Our inability to protect our proprietary information could harm our business. Information regarding risks associated with failing to protect our proprietary technology and our intellectual property rights may be found in Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K under the heading “Risk Factors.”

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Seasonal Fluctuations

General economic conditions impact our business and financial results, and we experience seasonal trends within our two operating segments, customer channels and the geographic locations that we serve. For example, European sales of Invisalign treatments are often weaker in the summer months due to our customers and their patients being on holiday. In North America, summer is typically the busiest season for orthodontists with practices that have a high percentage of adolescent and teenage patients as many parents want to get their teenagers started in treatment before the start of the school year; however, many GPs are on vacation during this time and therefore tend to start fewer cases. For our Scanner segment, capital equipment sales are often stronger in the fourth calendar quarter. Consequently, these seasonal trends have caused and may continue to cause fluctuations in our quarterly results, including fluctuations in sequential revenue growth rates.

Backlog

All Invisalign treatments are individually unique and prescribed by a doctor so, no two cases are alike. The period from which a treatment data package (or a "case”) is received until the acceptance of the digital ClinCheck treatment plan is dependent on the dental professional’s discretion to modify, accept or cancel the treatment plan. Therefore, we consider the case a firm order to manufacture aligners once the dental professional has approved the ClinCheck treatment plan. Our Invisalign backlog consists of ClinCheck treatment plans that have been accepted but not yet shipped. Because aligners are shipped shortly after the ClinCheck treatment plan has been accepted, we believe that backlog is not a good indicator of future Invisalign revenues. Our quarterly Invisalign revenues can be impacted by the timing of the ClinCheck treatment plan acceptances and our ability to ship those cases in the same quarter. We define our intraoral scanner backlog as orders where credit and financing is approved and payment is reasonably assured but the scanner has not yet shipped. Our intraoral scanner backlog as of December 31, 2017 was not material.

Competition

We operate in a highly competitive market and we encounter a wide variety of competitors, including larger companies or divisions of larger companies with substantial sales, marketing, research and financial capabilities. We also face competition from early stage companies. Although the number of competitors varies by segment, currently our products compete directly against products manufactured and distributed by various companies, both within and outside the U.S., including Danaher Corporation, Sirona Dental Systems, Inc., Dentsply International, Inc., 3M Company, Straumann Holding AG, 3Shape, Angel Align and other private competitors. In addition, the expiration of certain of key patents, which commenced in 2017, may result in additional competition. Information regarding risks associated with increased competition may be found in Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K under the heading “Risk Factors.”

Key competitive factors include:

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effectiveness of treatment;

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price;

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software features;

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aesthetic appeal of the treatment method;

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customer support;

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customer online interface;

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brand awareness;

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innovation;

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distribution network;

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comfort associated with the treatment method;

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oral hygiene;

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ease of use; and

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dental professionals’ chair time.

We believe that our products compare favorably with our competitors’ products with respect to each of these factors.

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Government Regulation

In order for us to market our products, we must obtain regulatory authorization and comply with extensive product and quality system regulations both within and outside the U.S. These regulations, including the requirements for approvals or clearance and the time required for regulatory review, vary from country to country. Failure to obtain regulatory approval and to meet all local requirements including language and specific safety standards in any country in which we currently market or plan to market our products could prevent us from marketing products in such countries or subject us to sanctions and fines. The approval by government authorities is unpredictable and uncertain and may not be granted on a timely basis, if at all. Delays in receipt of, or a failure to receive, such approvals or clearances, or the loss of any previously received approvals or clearances, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Certain of our products are classified as medical devices under the United States Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the “FD&CA”). The FD&CA requires these products, when sold in the U.S., to be safe and effective for their intended use and to comply with the regulations administered by the FDA. Our products may also be regulated by comparable agencies in non-U.S. countries in which they are produced or sold. In the European Union ("EU"), our products are subject to the medical devices laws of the various member states, which are based on a Directive of the European Commission which was updated in April 2017 to the Medical Device Regulation. Such laws generally regulate the safety of the products in a similar way to the FDA regulations.

We believe we are in compliance with all FDA, federal and state laws and international regulatory requirements that are applicable to our products and manufacturing operations.

We are also subject to various laws inside and outside the U.S. concerning our relationships with healthcare professionals and government officials, price reporting and regulation, the promotion, sales and marketing of our products and services, the importation and exportation of our products, the operation of our facilities and distribution of our products. As a global company, we are subject to varying degrees of government regulation in the various countries in which we do business, and the general trend is toward increasingly stringent oversight and enforcement. Initiatives sponsored by government agencies, legislative bodies, and the private sector to limit the growth of healthcare expenses generally are ongoing in markets where we do business. It is not possible to predict at this time the long-term impact of such cost containment measures on our future business.

Our customers are healthcare providers that may be reimbursed by federal funded programs such as Medicaid or a foreign national healthcare program, each of which may offer some degree of oversight. Many government agencies, both domestic and foreign, have increased their enforcement activities with respect to healthcare providers and companies in recent years. Enforcement actions and associated defense can be expensive, and any resulting findings carry the risk of significant civil and criminal penalties.

In addition, we must comply with numerous data protection requirements that span from individual state and national laws in the U.S. to multinational requirements in the EU. In the U.S., final regulations implementing amendments to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) became effective in the latter part of 2013 with the HIPAA Omnibus Rule. In the EU, Align must comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), which serves as a harmonization of European data-privacy laws. The GDPR goes into effect May 25, 2018. Meanwhile, the Asia Pacific region has also seen rapid development of privacy laws, including in China, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Australia. We believe we have designed our product and service offerings to be compliant with the requirements of applicable data protection laws and regulations. Maintaining systems that are compliant with these laws and regulations is costly and could require complex changes in the way we do business or provide services to our customers and their patients. Additionally, our success may be dependent on the success of healthcare providers in managing data protection requirements.

Employees

As of December 31, 2017, we had approximately 8,715 employees, including 5,705 in manufacturing and operations, 1,830 in sales and marketing which includes customer care, 475 in research and development and 705 in general and administrative functions.

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Available Information

Our website is www.aligntech.com, and our investor relations website is http://investor.aligntech.com. The information on or accessible through our websites is not part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, our proxy statement on Schedule 14A for our annual stockholders’ meeting and amendments to such reports are available, free of charge, on our investor relations website as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file or furnish such material with the SEC. Further, a copy of this Annual Report on Form 10-K is located at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, D.C. 20549. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room can be obtained by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. The SEC maintains an internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding our filings at www.sec.gov.

Executive Officers of the Registrant

The following table sets forth certain information regarding our executive officers as of February 28, 2018:

Joseph M. Hogan has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of our Board of Directors since June 2015. Prior to joining us, Mr. Hogan was Chief Executive Officer of ABB Ltd., a global power and automation technologies company based in Zurich, Switzerland from 2008 to 2013. Prior to working in ABB, Mr. Hogan worked at General Electric Company (GE) in a variety of executive and management roles from 1985 to 2008, including eight years as Chief Executive Officer of GE Healthcare from 2000 to 2008.

John F. Morici has served as our Chief Financial Officer since November 2016. Prior to joining us, Mr. Morici was at NBC Universal from 2007 to 2016 where he held several senior management positions in their Universal Pictures Home Entertainment U.S. and Canadian business, including Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, and most recently, Executive Vice President and Managing Director from 2014 to 2016. Prior to NBC Universal, Mr. Morici was in various senior financial management positions at GE Healthcare from 1999 to 2007, including Chief Financial Officer for its Diagnostic Imaging and Global Products units from 2002 to 2003.

Simon Beard has served as our Vice President and Managing Director, EMEA since October 2015. In February 2018, Mr. Beard's title was changed to Senior Vice President and Managing Director, EMEA. Prior to joining us, from 2012 to 2014, Mr. Beard was Regional Director for the South East Asia business of Smith & Nephew, a multinational medical equipment manufacturing company. From 2006 to 2012, Mr. Beard was Director & General Manager for UK and Ireland for Smith & Nephew's Advanced Woundcare business. Prior to Smith & Nephew, Mr. Beard held multiple commercial, strategic, and general management positions in companies such as DePuy International (Johnson & Johnson), Sankyo Pharmaceutical and Sanofi Aventis.

Roger E. George has served as our Vice President, Corporate and Legal Affairs and General Counsel since July 2002. In February 2018, Mr. George's title was changed to Senior Vice President, Chief Legal and Regulatory Officer. Prior to joining us, Mr. George was the Chief Financial Officer, Vice President of Finance and Legal Affairs and General Counsel of SkyStream Networks, a privately held broadband and broadcast network equipment company. Prior to SkyStream, Mr. George was a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C. in Palo Alto, California.

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Stuart Hockridge has served as our Vice President, Global Human Resources since May 2016. In February 2018, Mr. Hockridge's title was changed to Senior Vice President, Global Human Resources. Prior to joining us, Mr. Hockridge was Senior Vice President of Talent at Visa Inc. from 2013 to 2016 where he led all aspects of talent delivery for the company including executive development, succession planning, employee engagement, learning and development, and talent acquisition. Prior to Visa, Mr. Hockridge held a number of human resource management positions at GE Healthcare from 2002 to 2012 leading HR processes both globally and for various divisions.

Sreelakshmi Kolli has served as our Vice President, Information Technology since December 2012. In February 2018, Ms. Kolli's title was changed to Senior Vice President, Global Information Technology. Ms. Kolli joined us in June 2003 and has held positions leading business operations and engineering for customer-facing applications. Before joining us, she held technical lead positions with Sword CT Space and Accenture.

Jennifer Olson has served as our Vice President and Managing Director, Doctor-Directed Consumer Channel since August 2016. In February 2018, Ms. Olson's title was changed to Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Doctor-Directed Consumer Channel. Ms. Olson joined us in 2002 and has held multiple roles in sales, marketing, and business development. Most recently, she was Area Sales Director for the North America region where she led all sales activities in Western Canada and the Western region of the U.S. Prior to joining Align, Ms. Olson was with technology companies including Extreme Networks and PWI Technologies.

Raphael Pascaud has served as our Chief Marketing, Portfolio and Business Development Officer, and Vice President, iTero Scanner and Services since July 2015. In February 2018, his title was changed to Chief Marketing, Portfolio and Business Development Officer and Senior Vice President, iTero Scanner and Services. He joined Align in 2010 as Vice President and Managing Director for EMEA and was promoted in January 2014 to Vice President, International. Prior to Align, Mr. Pascaud spent 14 years in various management positions within Johnson & Johnson, including Vice President Orthopedics of EMEA and Vice President Marketing of International.

Christopher C. Puco has served as our Vice President and Managing Director, Americas since December 2017 and became Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Americas in February 2018. He joined us in 2006 as a sales director and in 2008 became senior director for the U.S. Eastern sales area. He served as Vice President of North America from December 2012 to December 2017. Mr. Puco has more than 20 years of experience in the medical device industry holding sales management positions in both starts-ups and established corporate environments. Prior to joining us, he was with United States Surgical Corporation, General Surgical Innovations, Baxter BioSurgery and Fusion Medical Technologies.

Zelko Relic joined Align in 2013 as Vice President, Research & Development. In December 2017, he became Chief Technology Officer, Vice President, Research & Development. In February 2018, his title was changed to Chief Technology Officer, Senior Vice President, Global Research & Development. Prior to joining us, Mr. Relic was Vice President, Engineering for Datalogic Automation, a global leader in automatic data capture and industrial automation markets from 2012. Mr. Relic was previously Vice President, Engineering at Danaher Corporation, Accu-Sort Systems business from 2010 to 2012 before it was acquired by Datalogic Automation. From 2005 to 2010, he was at Siemens Medical Solutions USA, most recent as Vice President, and from 2002 to 2004, he held senior management positions in engineering at Kulicke & Soffa Industries, designers and manufactures of semiconductor products. He also held management positions at KLA-Tencor from 1994 to 2000.

Julie Tay was appointed Vice President and Managing Director, Asia Pacific in March 2013 and became Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Asia Pacific in February 2018. Prior to joining us, Ms. Tay was regional head of Bayer Healthcare (Diabetes Care) overseeing operations across Asia from 2010 to 2013. From 2006 to 2010, Ms. Tay served as director of marketing and corporate accounts at Sealed Air Corporation (formerly Johnson Diversey), a global provider of food safety and security, facility hygiene and product protection. Prior to that, Ms. Tay spent 15 years with Johnson & Johnson Medical.

Emory M. Wright has served as our Vice President, Operations since December 2007 and became Senior Vice President, Global Operations in February 2018. He has been with us since March 2000 predominantly in manufacturing and operations roles including Vice President, Manufacturing and was General Manager of New Product Development. Prior to joining Align, from 1999 to 2000, Mr. Wright was Senior Manufacturing Manager at Metrika, Inc. a medical device manufacturer. Mr. Wright served as Manager of Manufacturing and Process Development for Metra Biosystems Inc.

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ITEM 1A.RISK FACTORS

We depend on the sale of the Invisalign System for the vast majority of our net revenues, and any decline in sales of Invisalign treatment for any reason, or a decline in average selling prices would adversely affect net revenues, gross margin and net income.

We expect that net revenues from the sale of the Invisalign System, primarily Invisalign Full and Invisalign Teen, will continue to account for the vast majority of our total net revenues for the foreseeable future. Continued and widespread market acceptance of Invisalign by orthodontists, GPs and consumers is critical to our future success. If orthodontists and GPs experience a reduction in consumer demand for orthodontic services, if consumers prove unwilling to adopt Invisalign as rapidly as we anticipate or in the volume that we anticipate, if orthodontists or GPs choose to use a competitive product rather than Invisalign or if the average selling price of our product declines for any reason, including as a result of a shift in product mix towards lower priced products, our operating results would be harmed.

Competition in the markets for our products is intense and we expect aggressive competition from existing competitors and other companies that may introduce new technologies in the future.

Currently, our products compete directly against products manufactured and distributed by various companies, both within and outside the U.S. In addition, as a result of the expiration of certain key patents owned by us, which began in 2017, we expect that existing competitors such as Danaher Corporation, Dentsply Sirona Inc., Straumann AG, 3M, 3Shape and Angel Align as well as new entrants into the clear aligner market such as start-ups will begin offering an orthodontic system more similar to ours in the near future. Several of these competitors will likely have greater resources as well as the ability to leverage their existing channels in the dental market to compete directly with us, and therefore our share of the clear aligner market could decline which would likely have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operation and financial condition. In addition, corresponding foreign patents will start to expire in 2018 which will likely result in increased competition in some of the markets outside the U.S. Large consumer product companies may also enter the orthodontic supply market. Furthermore, we also face competition from companies that now offer clear aligner therapy directly to the consumer eliminating the need for the consumer to visit a dental office. In addition, we may also face competition in the future from new companies that may introduce new technologies. We may be unable to compete with these competitors and one or more of these competitors may render our technology obsolete or economically unattractive. If we are unable to compete effectively with existing products or respond effectively to any products developed by new or existing competitors, our business could be harmed. Increased competition has resulted in the past and may in the future result in volume discounting and price reductions, reduced gross margins, reduced profitability and loss of market share, and reduce dental professionals’ efforts and commitment to expand their use of our products, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our net revenues, volume growth, net income and stock price. We cannot assure that we will be able to compete successfully against our current or future competitors or that competitive pressures will not have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We are dependent on our international operations, which exposes us to foreign operational, political and other risks that may harm our business.

Our key production steps are performed in operations located outside of the U.S. In San Jose, Costa Rica, technicians use a sophisticated, internally developed computer-modeling program to prepare digital treatment plans, which are then transmitted electronically to Juarez, Mexico. These digital files form the basis of the ClinCheck treatment plan and are used to manufacture aligner molds. In 2017, we opened new treatment planning facilities in Chengdu, China and Cologne, Germany to support our customers within these regions. Our order acquisition, aligner fabrication and shipping operations are conducted in Juarez, Mexico, and we also have order acquisition for the EMEA region in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We will continue to establish additional order acquisition and treatment planning facilities closer to our international customers in order to improve our operational efficiency. In addition to the research and development efforts conducted in our North America facilities, we also carry out research and development in Moscow, Russia. We also have customer-care, accounts receivable, customer event registration and accounts payable organizations located in San Jose, Costa Rica. In addition, we have operations in Israel where the design and wand are assembled and our intraoral scanner is manufactured. Our reliance on international operations exposes us to risks and uncertainties that may affect our business or results of operation, including:

•

difficulties in hiring and retaining employees generally, as well as difficulties in hiring and retaining employees with the necessary skills to perform the more technical aspects of our operations;

•

difficulties in managing international operations, including any travel restrictions to or from our facilities;

•

fluctuations in currency exchange rates;

•

import and export license requirements and restrictions;

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•

controlling production volume and quality of the manufacturing process;

•

political, social and economic instability, including as a result of increased levels of violence in Juarez, Mexico or the Middle East. We cannot predict the effect on us of any future armed conflict, political instability or violence in these regions. In addition, some of our employees in Israel are obligated to perform annual reserve duty in the Israeli military and are subject to being called for additional active duty under emergency circumstances. We cannot predict the full impact of these conditions on us in the future, particularly if emergency circumstances or an escalation in the political situation occurs. If many of our employees are called for active duty, our operations in Israel and our business may not be able to function at full capacity;

•

acts of terrorism and acts of war;

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general geopolitical instability and the responses to it, such as the possibility of additional sanctions against Russia which continue to bring uncertainty to this region;

•

interruptions and limitations in telecommunication services;

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product or material transportation delays or disruption, including as a result of increased levels of violence, acts of terrorism, acts of war or health epidemics restricting travel to and from our international locations or as a result of natural disasters, such as earthquakes or volcanic eruptions;

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burdens of complying with a wide variety of local country and regional laws, including the risks associated with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and local anti-bribery compliance;

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trade restrictions and changes in tariffs; and

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potential adverse tax consequences.

If any of these risks materialize in the future, we could experience production delays and lost or delayed revenue.

We earn an increasingly larger portion of our total revenues from international sales and face risks attendant to those operations.

We earn an increasingly larger portion of our total revenues from international sales generated through our foreign direct and indirect operations. Since our growth strategy depends in part on our ability to further penetrate markets outside the U.S. and increase the localization of our products and services, we expect to continue to increase our sales and presence outside the U.S., particularly in the high-growth markets. Our international operations are subject to risks that are customarily encountered in non-U.S. operations, including:

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local political and economic instability;

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the engagement of activities by our employees, contractors, partners and agents, especially in countries with developing economies, that are prohibited by international and local trade and labor laws and other laws prohibiting corrupt payments to government officials, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the United Kingdom ("UK") Bribery Act of 2010 and export control laws, in spite of our policies and procedures designed to ensure compliance with these laws;

•

fluctuations in currency exchange rates; and

•

increased expense of developing, testing and making localized versions of our products.

Any of these factors, either individually or in combination, could materially impact our international operations and adversely affect our business as a whole.

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We face risks related to our international sales, including the need to obtain necessary foreign regulatory clearance or approvals.

Outside of North America, we currently sell our products in certain countries within Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East and may expand into other countries from time to time. For sales of our products outside the U.S., we are subject to foreign regulatory requirements that vary widely from country to country. The time required to obtain clearances or approvals required by other countries may be longer than that required for FDA clearance or approval, and requirements for such approvals may differ from FDA requirements. We may be unable to obtain regulatory approvals in one or more of the other countries in which we do business or in which we may do business in the future. We may also incur significant costs in attempting to obtain and maintain foreign regulatory approvals. If we experience delays in receipt of approvals to market our products outside of the U.S., or if we fail to receive these approvals, we may be unable to market our products or enhancements in international markets in a timely manner, if at all, which could materially impact our international operations and adversely affect our business as a whole.

Demand for our products may not increase as rapidly as we anticipate due to a variety of factors including a weakness in general economic conditions.

Consumer spending habits are affected by, among other things, prevailing economic conditions, levels of employment, salaries and wage rates, gas prices, consumer confidence and consumer perception of economic conditions. A general slowdown in the U.S. economy and certain international economies or an uncertain economic outlook would adversely affect consumer spending habits which may, among other things, result in a decrease in the number of overall orthodontic case starts, reduced patient traffic in dentists’ offices, reduction in consumer spending on elective or higher value procedures or a reduction in the demand for dental services generally, each of which would have a material adverse effect on our sales and operating results. Weakness in the global economy results in a challenging environment for selling dental technologies and dentists may postpone investments in capital equipment, such as intraoral scanners. In addition, Invisalign treatment, which currently accounts for the vast majority of our net revenues, represents a significant change from traditional orthodontic treatment, and customers and consumers may be reluctant to accept it or may not find it preferable to traditional treatment. We have generally received positive feedback from orthodontists, GPs and consumers regarding Invisalign treatment as both an alternative to braces and as a clinical method for the treatment of malocclusion, but a number of dental professionals believe that the Invisalign treatment is appropriate for only a limited percentage of their patients. Increased market acceptance of all of our products will depend in part upon the recommendations of dental professionals, as well as other factors including effectiveness, safety, ease of use, reliability, aesthetics, and price compared to competing products.

Our future success may depend on our ability to develop, successfully introduce and achieve market acceptance of new products.

Our future success may depend on our ability to develop, manufacture, market and obtain regulatory approval or clearance of new products. There can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully develop, sell and achieve market acceptance of these and other new products and applications and enhanced versions of our existing product or software. The extent of, and rate at which, market acceptance and penetration are achieved by future products is a function of many variables, which include, among other things, our ability to:

include functionality and features that address customer requirements;

•

ensure compatibility of our computer operating systems and hardware configurations with those of our customers;

•

allocate our research and development funding to products with higher growth prospects;

•

anticipate and respond to our competitors’ development of new products and technological innovations;

•

differentiate our offerings from our competitors’ offerings;

•

innovate and develop new technologies and applications;

•

the availability of third-party reimbursement of procedures using our products;

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obtain adequate intellectual property rights; and

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encourage customers to adopt new technologies.

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If we fail to accurately predict customer needs and preferences or fail to produce viable technologies, we may invest heavily in research and development of products that do not lead to significant revenue. Even if we successfully innovate and develop new products and produce enhancements, we may incur substantial costs in doing so and our profitability may suffer. In addition, even if our new products are successfully introduced, it is unlikely that they will rapidly gain market share and acceptance primarily due to the relatively long period of time it takes to successfully treat a patient with Invisalign. Since it typically takes approximately 12 to 24 months to treat a patient, our customers may be unwilling to rapidly adopt our new products until they successfully complete at least one case or until more historical clinical results are available.

Our ability to market and sell new products may also be subject to government regulation, including approval or clearance by the FDA and foreign government agencies. Any failure in our ability to successfully develop and introduce or achieve market acceptance of our new products or enhanced versions of existing products could have a material adverse effect on our operating results and could cause our net revenues to decline.

The frequency of use of the Invisalign System by orthodontists or GPs may not increase at the rate that we anticipate or at all.

One of our key objectives is to continue to increase utilization, or the adoption and frequency of use, of the Invisalign System by new and existing customers. If utilization of the Invisalign System by our existing and newly trained orthodontists or GPs does not occur or does not occur as quickly as we anticipate, our operating results could be harmed.

We may experience declines in average selling prices of our products which may decrease our net revenues.

We provide volume-based discount programs to our doctors. In addition, we sell a number of products at different list prices. If we change the volume-based discount accounting that affects our average selling prices; if we introduce any price reductions or consumer rebate programs; if we expand our discount programs in the future or participation in these programs increases; or if our product mix shifts to lower priced products or products that have a higher percentage of deferred revenue, our average selling prices would be adversely affected and our net revenues, gross profit, gross margin and net income may be reduced.

We are exposed to fluctuations in currency exchange rates, which could negatively affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Although the U.S. dollar is our reporting currency, a portion of our net revenues and net income are generated in foreign currencies. Net revenues and net income generated by subsidiaries operating outside of the U.S. are translated into U.S. dollars using exchange rates effective during the respective period and are affected by changes in exchange rates. As a result, negative movements in currency exchange rates against the U.S. dollar will adversely affect our net revenues and net income in our consolidated financial statements. The exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and foreign currencies has fluctuated substantially in recent years and may continue to fluctuate substantially in the future. We have in the past and may in the future enter into currency hedging transactions in an effort to cover some of our exposure to foreign currency exchange fluctuations. These transactions may not operate to fully or effectively hedge our exposure to currency fluctuations, and, under certain circumstances, these transactions could have an adverse effect on our financial condition.

As we continue to grow, we are subject to growth related risks, including risks related to excess or constrained capacity at our existing facilities.

We are subject to growth related risks, including excess or constrained capacity and pressure on our internal systems and personnel. In order to manage current operations and future growth effectively, we will need to continue to implement and improve our operational, financial and management information systems and to hire, train, motivate, manage and retain employees. We may be unable to manage such growth effectively. Any such failure could have a material adverse impact on our business, operations and prospects. We are establishing additional order acquisition, treatment planning and manufacturing facilities closer to our international customers in order to improve our operational efficiency and provide doctors with a better experience to further improve their confidence in using Invisalign to treat more patients, more often. Our ability to plan, construct and equip additional order acquisition, treatment planning and manufacturing facilities is subject to significant risk and uncertainty, including risks inherent in the establishment of a facility, such as hiring and retaining employees and delays and cost overruns as a result of a number of factors, any of which may be out of our control. If the transition into these additional facilities is significantly delayed or demand for our product exceeds our current expectations, we may not be able to fulfill orders timely, which may negatively impact our financial results and overall business. In addition, because we cannot immediately adapt our production capacity and related cost structures to changing market conditions, our facility capacity may at times exceed or fall short of our production requirements. In addition, if product demand decreases or we fail to forecast demand accurately, we could be required to write off inventory or record excess capacity charges, which would lower our gross margin. Production of our intraoral scanners may also be limited by capacity

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constraints due to a variety of factors, including our dependency on third party vendors for key components in addition to limited production yields. Any or all of these problems could result in the loss of customers, provide an opportunity for competing products to gain market acceptance and otherwise harm our business and financial results.

If we fail to sustain or increase profitability or revenue growth in future periods, the market price for our common stock may decline.

If we are to sustain or increase profitability in future periods, we will need to continue to increase our net revenues, while controlling our expenses. Because our business is evolving, it is difficult to predict our future operating results or levels of growth, and we have not in the past and may not in the future be able to sustain our historical growth rates. If we do not increase profitability or revenue growth or otherwise meet the expectations of securities analysts or investors, the market price of our common stock will likely decline.

Our financial results have fluctuated in the past and may fluctuate in the future which may cause volatility in our stock price.

Our operating results have fluctuated in the past and we expect our future quarterly and annual operating results to fluctuate as we focus on increasing doctor and consumer demand for our products. These fluctuations could cause our stock price to decline or significantly fluctuate. Some of the factors that could cause our operating results to fluctuate include:

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limited visibility into and difficulty predicting from quarter to quarter, the level of activity in our customers’ practices including limited visibility into the number of aligners purchased by SmileDirectClub, LLC ("SDC") under the supply agreement;

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weakness in consumer spending as a result of a slowdown in the global, U.S. or other economies;

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changes in relationships with our distributors;

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changes in the timing of receipt of Invisalign case product orders during a given quarter which, given our cycle time and the delay between case receipts and case shipments, could have an impact on which quarter revenue can be recognized;

if participation in our customer rebate or discount programs increases our average selling price will be adversely affected;

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seasonal fluctuations in the number of doctors in their offices and their availability to take appointments;

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success of or changes to our marketing programs from quarter to quarter;

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our reliance on our contract manufacturers for the production of sub-assemblies for our intraoral scanners;

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timing of industry tradeshows;

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changes in the timing of when revenue is recognized, including as a result of the introduction of new products or promotions, modifications to our terms and conditions or as a result of changes to critical accounting estimates or new accounting pronouncements;

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changes to our effective tax rate;

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unanticipated delays in production caused by insufficient capacity or availability of raw materials;

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any disruptions in the manufacturing process, including unexpected turnover in the labor force or the introduction of new production processes, power outages or natural or other disasters beyond our control;

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the development and marketing of directly competitive products by existing and new competitors;

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disruptions to our business as a result of our agreement to manufacture clear aligners for SDC, including market acceptance of the SDC business model and product, possible adverse customer reaction and negative publicity about us and our products;

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impairments in the value of our strategic investments in SDC and other privately held companies could be material;

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major changes in available technology or the preferences of customers may cause our current product offerings to become less competitive or obsolete;

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aggressive price competition from competitors;

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costs and expenditures in connection with litigation;

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the timing of new product introductions by us and our competitors, as well as customer order deferrals in anticipation of enhancements or new products;

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unanticipated delays in our receipt of patient records made through an intraoral scanner for any reason;

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disruptions to our business due to political, economic or other social instability, including the impact of an epidemic any of which results in changes in consumer spending habits, consumers unable or unwilling to visit the orthodontist or general practitioners office, as well as any impact on workforce absenteeism;

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inaccurate forecasting of net revenues, production and other operating costs,

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investments in research and development to develop new products and enhancements;

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changes in accounting standards, policies and estimates including changes made by our equity investee; and

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our ability to successfully hedge against a portion of our foreign currency-denominated assets and liabilities.

To respond to these and other factors, we may need to make business decisions that could adversely affect our operating results such as modifications to our pricing policy, business structure or operations. Most of our expenses, such as employee compensation and lease payment obligations, are relatively fixed in the short term. Moreover, our expense levels are based, in part, on our expectations regarding future revenue levels. As a result, if our net revenues for a particular period fall below our expectations, whether caused by changes in consumer spending, consumer preferences, weakness in the U.S. or global economies, changes in customer behavior related to advertising and prescribing our product or other factors, we may be unable to adjust spending quickly enough to offset any shortfall in net revenues. Due to these and other factors, we believe that quarter-to-quarter comparisons of our operating results may not be meaningful. You should not rely on our results for any one quarter as an indication of our future performance.

A disruption in the operations of our primary freight carrier or higher shipping costs could cause a decline in our net revenues or a reduction in our earnings.

We are dependent on commercial freight carriers, primarily UPS, to deliver our products to our customers. If the operations of these carriers are disrupted for any reason, we may be unable to deliver our products to our customers on a timely basis. If we cannot deliver our products in an efficient and timely manner, our customers may reduce their orders from us and our net revenues and gross margin could materially decline. In a rising fuel cost environment, our freight costs will increase. If freight costs materially increase and we are unable to pass that increase along to our customers for any reason or otherwise offset such increases in our cost of net revenues, our gross margin and financial results could be adversely affected.

If we are unable to accurately predict our volume growth, and fail to hire a sufficient number of technicians in advance of such demand, the delivery time of our products could be delayed which could adversely affect our results of operations.

Treatment planning is a key step leading to our manufacturing process which relies on sophisticated computer technology requiring new technicians to undergo a relatively long training process. Training production technicians takes approximately 90 to 120 days. As a result, if we are unable to accurately predict our volume growth, we may not have a sufficient number of trained technicians to deliver our products within the time frame our customers expect. Such a delay could cause us to lose existing customers or fail to attract new customers. This could cause a decline in our net revenues and net income and could adversely affect our results of operations.

Our headquarters, digital dental modeling processes, and other manufacturing processes are principally located in regions that are subject to earthquakes and other natural disasters.

Our digital dental modeling is primarily processed in our facility located in San Jose, Costa Rica. The operations team in Costa Rica creates ClinCheck treatment plans using sophisticated computer software. In addition, our customer facing operations are located in Costa Rica. Our aligner molds and finished aligners are fabricated in Juarez, Mexico. Both locations in Costa Rica and Mexico are in earthquake zones and may be subject to other natural disasters. If there is a major earthquake or any other natural

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disaster in a region where one of these facilities is located, our ability to create ClinCheck treatment plans, respond to customer inquiries or manufacture and ship our aligners could be compromised which could result in our customers experiencing a significant delay in receiving their completed aligners and a decrease in service levels for a period of time. In addition, our corporate headquarters in California is located in the San Francisco Bay Area. An earthquake or other natural disaster in this region could result in a disruption in our operations. Any such business interruption could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our information technology systems are critical to our business. System integration and implementation issues and system security risks could disrupt our operations, which could have a material adverse impact on our business and operating results.

We rely on the efficient and uninterrupted operation of complex information technology systems. All information technology systems are vulnerable to damage or interruption from a variety of sources. As our business has grown in size and complexity, the growth has placed, and will continue to place, significant demands on our information technology systems. To effectively manage this growth, our information systems and applications require an ongoing commitment of significant resources to maintain, protect and enhance existing systems and develop new systems to keep pace with continuing changes in information processing technology, evolving industry and regulatory standards and changing customer preferences. We are in a multi-year, company-wide program to transform certain business processes or extend established processes which includes the transition to a new enterprise resource planning ("ERP") software system. We implemented the first phase of our ERP on July 1, 2016 and, while we believe we are past any potential significant business disruption, we are still monitoring and troubleshooting potential issues. The implementation of additional functionality in the ERP system entails certain risks, including difficulties with changes in business processes that could disrupt our operations, such as our ability to track orders and timely ship products, manage our supply chain and aggregate financial and operational data. Additionally, if we are not able to accurately forecast expenses related to the project, this may have an adverse impact on our financial condition and operating results.

If the information we rely upon to run our businesses were to be found to be inaccurate or unreliable, if we fail to properly maintain our information systems and data integrity, or if we fail to develop new capabilities to meet our business needs in a timely manner, we could have operational disruptions, have customer disputes, lose our ability to produce timely and accurate reports, have regulatory or other legal problems, have increases in operating and administrative expenses, lose existing customers, have difficulty in attracting new customers or in implementing our growth strategies, or suffer other adverse consequences. In addition, experienced computer programmers and hackers may be able to penetrate our network security or our cloud-based software servers hosted by third party and misappropriate our confidential information or that of third parties, create system disruptions or cause shutdowns. Furthermore, sophisticated hardware and operating system software and applications that we either internally develop or procure from third parties which we depend upon may contain defects in design and manufacture, including “bugs” and other problems that can unexpectedly interfere with the operation of the system. The costs to eliminate or alleviate security problems, viruses and bugs could be significant, and the efforts to address these problems could result in interruptions that may have a material adverse impact on our operations, net revenues and operating results.

System upgrades and enhancements require significant expenditures and allocation of valuable employee resources. Delays in integration or disruptions to our business from implementation of these new or upgraded systems could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition and operating results.

Additionally, we continuously upgrade our customer facing software applications, specifically the ClinCheck and MyAligntech software. Software applications frequently contain errors or defects, especially when they are first introduced or when new versions are released. The discovery of a defect or error or the incompatibility with the computer operating system and hardware configurations of customers in a new upgraded version or the failure of our primary information systems may result in the following consequences, among others: loss of revenue or delay in market acceptance, damage to our reputation or increased service costs, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Furthermore, our business requires the secure transmission of confidential information over public networks. Because of the confidential health information we store and transmit, security breaches could expose us to a risk of regulatory action, litigation, possible liability and loss. We have experienced such breaches in the past and our security measures may be inadequate to prevent security breaches, and our business operations and profitability would be adversely affected by, among other things, loss of customers and potential criminal and civil sanctions if they are not prevented.

There can be no assurance that our process of improving existing systems, developing new systems to support our expanding operations, integrating new systems, protecting confidential patient information, and improving service levels will not be delayed or that additional systems issues will not arise in the future. Failure to adequately protect and maintain the integrity of our information systems and data may result in a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

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If the security of our customer and patient information is compromised, patient care could suffer, and we could be liable for related damages, and our reputation could be impaired.

We retain confidential customer and patient information in our processing centers. Therefore, it is critical that our facilities and infrastructure remain secure and are also perceived by the marketplace and our customers to be secure. Despite the implementation of security measures, we have experienced such breaches in the past and our infrastructure may be vulnerable to physical break-ins, computer viruses, programming errors or other technical malfunctions, hacking or phishing attacks by third parties, employee error or malfeasance or similar disruptive problems. If we fail to meet our customer and patient’s expectations regarding the security of healthcare information, we could be liable for damages and our reputation and competition position could be impaired. Affected parties could initiate legal or regulatory action against us, which could cause us to incur significant expense and liability or result in orders forcing us to modify our business practices. Concerns over our privacy practices could adversely affect others’ perception of us and deter customers, advertisers and partners from using our products. In addition, patient care could suffer, and we could be liable if our systems fail to deliver correct information in a timely manner. Our insurance may not protect us from this risk.

We are also subject to several federal, state and foreign laws and regulations, including ones relating to privacy, data protection, content regulation, and consumer protection. These laws and regulations are constantly evolving and may be interpreted, applied, created or amended in a manner that could adversely affect our business.

Our success depends in part on our proprietary technology, and if we are unable to successfully enforce our intellectual property rights, our competitive position may be harmed. Litigating claims of this type is costly and could distract our management and cause a decline in our results of operations and stock price.

Our success will depend in part on our ability to maintain existing intellectual property and to obtain and maintain further intellectual property protection for our products, both in the U.S. and in other countries. Our inability to do so could harm our competitive position. As of December 31, 2017, we had 420 active U.S. patents, 456 active foreign patents, and 416 pending global patent applications.

We intend to rely on our portfolio of issued and pending patent applications in the U.S. and in other countries to protect a large part of our intellectual property and our competitive position; however, our currently pending or future patent filings may not result in the issuance of patents. Additionally, any patents issued to us may be challenged, invalidated, held unenforceable, circumvented, or may not be sufficiently broad to prevent third parties from producing competing products similar in design to our products. In addition, any protection afforded by foreign patents may be more limited than that provided under U.S. patents and intellectual property laws. Certain of our key patents began to expire in 2017, which may result in increased competition or less expensive alternatives to our products. We also rely on protection of our copyrights, trade secrets, know-how and proprietary information. We generally enter into confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants and our collaborative partners upon commencement of a relationship with us; however, these agreements may not provide meaningful protection against the unauthorized use or disclosure of our trade secrets or other confidential information, and adequate remedies may not exist if unauthorized use or disclosure were to occur. Our inability to maintain the proprietary nature of our technology through patents, copyrights or trade secrets would impair our competitive advantages and could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition and future growth prospects. In particular, a failure to protect our proprietary rights might allow competitors to copy our technology, which could adversely affect our pricing and market share. In addition, in an effort to protect our intellectual property we have in the past been and may in the future be involved in litigation. The potential effects on our business operations resulting from litigation that we may participate in the future, whether or not ultimately determined in our favor or settled by us, are costly and divert the efforts and attention of our management and technical personnel from normal business operations.

Litigation, interferences, oppositions, re-exams, inter partes reviews, post grant reviews or other proceedings are, have been and may in the future be necessary in some instances to determine the validity and scope of certain of our proprietary rights, and in other instances to determine the validity, scope or non-infringement of certain patent rights claimed by third parties to be pertinent to the manufacture, use or sale of our products. Litigation, interference, oppositions, re-exams, inter partes reviews, post grant reviews, administrative challenges or other similar types of proceedings are unpredictable and may be protracted, expensive and distracting to management. The outcome of such proceedings could adversely affect the validity and scope of our patent or other proprietary rights, hinder our ability to manufacture and market our products, require us to seek a license for the infringed product or technology or result in the assessment of significant monetary damages. An unfavorable ruling could include monetary damages or, in cases where injunctive relief is sought, an injunction prohibiting us from selling our products. Any of these results from our litigation could adversely affect our results of operations and stock price.

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While we believe we currently have adequate internal control over financial reporting, we are required to assess our internal control over financial reporting on an annual basis and any future adverse results from such assessment could result in a loss of investor confidence in our financial reports and have an adverse effect on our stock price.

Pursuant to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the rules and regulations promulgated by the SEC, we are required to furnish in our Form 10-K a report by our management regarding the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. The report includes, among other things, an assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of the end of our fiscal year, including a statement as to whether or not our internal control over financial reporting is effective. This assessment must include disclosure of any material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting identified by management. While we believe our internal control over financial reporting is currently effective, the effectiveness of our internal controls in future periods is subject to the risk that our controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions including our transition of further business operations into our ERP software system, and, as a result, the degree of compliance of our internal control over financial reporting with the existing policies or procedures may become ineffective. Establishing, testing and maintaining an effective system of internal control over financial reporting requires significant resources and time commitments on the part of our management and our finance staff, may require additional staffing and infrastructure investments and would increase our costs of doing business. If we are unable to assert that our internal control over financial reporting is effective in any future period (or if our auditors are unable to express an opinion on the effectiveness of our internal controls or conclude that our internal controls are ineffective), we could lose investor confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, which could have an adverse effect on our stock price.

If we lose our key personnel or are unable to attract and retain key personnel, we may be unable to pursue business opportunities or develop our products.

We are highly dependent on the key employees in our clinical engineering, technology development, sales, training and marketing personnel and management teams. The loss of the services provided by those individuals may significantly delay or prevent the achievement of our product development and other business objectives and could harm our business. Our future success will also depend on our ability to identify, recruit, train and retain additional qualified personnel, including orthodontists. Few orthodontists are accustomed to working in a manufacturing environment since they are generally trained to work in private practices, universities and other research institutions. Thus, we may be unable to attract and retain personnel with the advanced qualifications necessary for the further development of our business. Furthermore, we may not be successful in retaining our key personnel or their services. If we are unable to attract and retain key personnel, our business could be materially harmed.

If we infringe the patents or proprietary rights of other parties or are subject to a patent infringement claim, our ability to grow our business may be severely limited.

Extensive litigation over patents and other intellectual property rights is common in the medical device industry. We have been sued for infringement of third party’s patents in the past and we may be the subject of patent or other litigation in the future. From time to time, we have received and may in the future receive letters from third parties drawing our attention to their patent rights. While we do not believe that we infringe upon any valid and enforceable rights that have been brought to our attention, there may be other more pertinent rights of which we are presently unaware. The defense and prosecution of intellectual property suits, interference proceedings and related legal and administrative proceedings could result in substantial expense to us and significant diversion of effort by our technical and management personnel. An adverse determination of any litigation or interference proceeding to which we may become a party could subject us to significant liabilities. An adverse determination of this nature could also put our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly or require us to seek licenses from third parties. Licenses may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all, in which event, our business would be materially adversely affected.

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We maintain single supply relationships for certain of our key machines and materials technologies, and our business and operating results could be harmed if supply is restricted or ends or the price of raw materials used in our manufacturing process increases.

We are highly dependent on manufacturers of specialized scanning equipment, rapid prototyping machines, resin and other advanced materials, as well as the optics, electronic and other mechanical components of our intraoral scanners. We maintain single supply relationships for many of these machines and materials technologies. In particular, our CT scanning and stereolithography equipment used in our aligner manufacturing and many of the critical components for the optics of our scanners are provided by single suppliers. We are also committed to purchasing the vast majority of our resin and polymer, the primary raw materials used in our manufacturing process for clear aligners, from a single source. If these or other suppliers encounter financial, operating or other difficulties or if our relationship with them changes, we might not be able to quickly establish or qualify replacement sources of supply and could face production interruptions, delays and inefficiencies. In addition, technology changes by our vendors could disrupt access to required manufacturing capacity or require expensive, time consuming development efforts to adapt and integrate new equipment or processes. Our growth may exceed the capacity of one or more of these manufacturers to produce the needed equipment and materials in sufficient quantities to support our growth. Conversely, in order to secure supplies for production of products, we sometimes enter into non-cancelable minimum purchase commitments with vendors, which could impact our ability to adjust our inventory to reflect declining market demands. If demand for our products is less than we expect, we may experience additional excess and obsolete inventories and be forced to incur additional charges and our profitability may suffer. In the event of technology changes, delivery delays, or shortages of or increases in price for these items, our business and growth prospects may be harmed.

We depend on a single contract manufacturer and supplier of parts used in our iTero scanner and any disruption in this relationship may cause us to fail to meet the demands of our customers and damage our customer relationships.

We rely on a third party manufacturer to supply key sub-assemblies for our iTero Element scanner. As a result, if this third party manufacturer fails to deliver its components, if we lose its services or if we fail to negotiate acceptable terms, we may be unable to deliver our products in a timely manner and our business may be harmed. Any difficulties encountered by the third party manufacturer with respect to hiring personnel and maintaining acceptable manufacturing standards, controls, procedures and policies could disrupt our ability to deliver our products in a timely manner. Finding a substitute manufacturer may be expensive, time-consuming or impossible and could result in a significant interruption in the supply of our intraoral scanning products. Any failure by our contract manufacturer that results in delays in our fulfillment of customer orders may cause us to lose revenues and suffer damage to our customer relationships.

Our ability to sell our products and generate revenues primarily depends upon our direct sales force within our North American and international markets. We do not have any long-term employment contracts with the members of our direct sales force. The loss of the services provided by these key personnel may harm our business. If we are unable to retain our direct sales force personnel or replace them with individuals of equivalent technical expertise and qualifications, or if we are unable to successfully instill such technical expertise or if we fail to establish and maintain strong relationships with our customers within a relatively short period of time, our net revenues and our ability to maintain market share could be materially harmed. In addition, due to our large and fragmented customer base, we may not be able to provide all of our customers with product support immediately upon the launch of a new product. As a result, adoption of new products by our customers may be slower than anticipated and our ability to grow market share and increase our net revenues may be harmed.

If our distributor relationships are not successful, our ability to market and sell our products would be harmed and our financial performance will be adversely affected.

We depend on relationships with distributors for the marketing and sales of our products in various geographic regions, and we have a limited ability to influence their efforts. Relying on distributors for our sales and marketing could harm our business for various reasons, including:

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agreements with distributors may terminate prematurely due to disagreements or may result in litigation between the partners;

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we may not be able to renew existing distributor agreements on acceptable terms;

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our distributors may not devote sufficient resources to the sale of products;

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our distributors may be unsuccessful in marketing our products;

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our existing relationships with distributors may preclude us from entering into additional future arrangements with other distributors; and

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we may not be able to negotiate future distributor agreements on acceptable terms.

Complying with regulations enforced by the FDA and other regulatory authorities is an expensive and time-consuming process, and any failure to comply could result in substantial penalties.

Our products are considered medical devices and are subject to extensive regulation in the U.S. and internationally. FDA regulations are wide ranging and govern, among other things:

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product design, development, manufacturing and testing;

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product labeling;

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product storage;

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pre-market clearance or approval;

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complaint handling and corrective actions;

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advertising and promotion; and

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product sales and distribution.

Our failure to comply with applicable regulatory requirements could result in enforcement action by the FDA or state agencies, which may include any of the following sanctions:

operating restrictions or partial suspension or total shutdown of production;

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refusing our requests for 510(k) clearance or pre-market approval of new products, new intended uses, or modifications to existing products;

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withdrawing clearance or pre-market approvals that have already been granted; and

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criminal prosecution.

If any of these events were to occur, they could harm our business. We must comply with facility registration and product listing requirements of the FDA and adhere to applicable Quality System regulations. The FDA enforces its Quality System regulations through periodic unannounced inspections. Our failure to take satisfactory corrective action in response to an adverse inspection or the failure to comply with applicable manufacturing regulations could result in enforcement action, and we may be required to find alternative manufacturers, which could be a long and costly process. Any FDA enforcement action could have a material adverse effect on us.

Before we can sell a new medical device in the U.S., or market a new use of or claim for an existing product, we must obtain FDA clearance or approval unless an exemption applies. Obtaining regulatory clearances or approvals can be a lengthy and time-consuming process. Even though the devices we market have obtained the necessary clearances from the FDA, we may be unable to maintain such clearances in the future. Furthermore, we may be unable to obtain the necessary clearances for new devices that

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we intend to market in the future. Our inability to maintain or obtain regulatory clearances or approvals could materially harm our business.

In addition, as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the SEC adopted disclosure requirements regarding the use of certain minerals, known as conflict minerals, which are mined from the Democratic Republic of Congo and adjoining countries, as well as procedures regarding a manufacturer's efforts to identify and discourage the sourcing of such minerals and metals produced from those minerals. Additional reporting obligations are being proposed by the European Union. The U.S. requirements and any additional requirements in Europe could affect the sourcing and availability of metals used in the manufacture of a limited number of parts (if any) contained in our products. For example, these disclosure requirements may decrease the number of suppliers capable of supplying our needs for certain metals, thereby negatively affecting our ability to obtain products in sufficient quantities or at competitive prices. Our material sourcing is broad based and multi-tiered, and we may be unable to conclusively verify the origins for all metals used in our products. We may suffer financial and reputational harm if customers require, and we are unable to deliver, certification that our products are conflict free. Regardless, we will incur additional costs associated with compliance with these disclosure requirements, including time-consuming and costly efforts to determine the source of any conflict minerals used in our products.

If compliance with healthcare regulations becomes costly and difficult for our customers or for us, we may not be able to grow our business.

Participants in the healthcare industry are subject to extensive and frequently changing regulations under numerous laws administered by governmental entities at the federal, state and local levels, some of which are, and others of which may be, applicable to our business. In response to perceived increases in health care costs, Congress passed health care reform legislation that was signed into law in March 2010. This legislation contains many provisions designed to generate the revenues necessary to fund the coverage expansions. The most relevant of these provisions are those that impose fees or taxes on certain health-related industries, including medical device manufacturers.

Furthermore, our healthcare provider customers are also subject to a wide variety of laws and regulations that could affect the nature and scope of their relationships with us. The healthcare market itself is highly regulated and subject to changing political, economic and regulatory influences. Regulations implemented pursuant to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ("HIPAA"), including regulations affecting the security and privacy of patient healthcare information held by healthcare providers and their business associates may require us to make significant and unplanned enhancements of software applications or services, result in delays or cancellations of orders, or result in the revocation of endorsement of our products and services by healthcare participants. The effect of HIPAA and newly enforced regulations on our business is difficult to predict, and there can be no assurance that we will adequately address the business risks created by HIPAA and its implementation or that we will be able to take advantage of any resulting business opportunities.

Extensive and changing government regulation of the healthcare industry may be expensive to comply with and exposes us to the risk of substantial government penalties.

storage, transmission and disclosure of medical information and healthcare records;

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prohibitions against the offer, payment or receipt of remuneration to induce referrals to entities providing healthcare services or goods or to induce the order, purchase or recommendation of our products; and

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the marketing and advertising of our products.

Complying with these laws and regulations could be expensive and time-consuming, and could increase our operating costs or reduce or eliminate certain of our sales and marketing activities or our revenues.

Our business exposes us to potential product liability claims, and we may incur substantial expenses if we are subject to product liability claims or litigation.

Medical devices involve an inherent risk of product liability claims and associated adverse publicity. We may be held liable if any product we develop or any product that uses or incorporates any of our technologies causes injury or is otherwise found unsuitable. Although we intend to continue to maintain product liability insurance, adequate insurance may not be available on acceptable terms, if at all, and may not provide adequate coverage against potential liabilities. A product liability claim, regardless

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of its merit or eventual outcome, could result in significant legal defense costs. These costs would have the effect of increasing our expenses and diverting management’s attention away from the operation of our business, and could harm our business.

Historically, the market price for our common stock has been volatile.

The market price of our common stock could be subject to wide price fluctuations in response to various factors, many of which are beyond our control. The factors include:

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quarterly variations in our results of operations and liquidity;

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changes in recommendations by the investment community or in their estimates of our net revenues or operating results;

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speculation in the press or investment community concerning our business and results of operations;

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strategic actions by our competitors, such as product announcements or acquisitions;

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announcements of technological innovations or new products by us, our customers or competitors; and

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general economic market conditions.

In addition, the stock market, in general and the market for technology and medical device companies, in particular, have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated to or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. These broad market and industry factors may seriously harm the market price of our common stock, regardless of our operating performance. Historically, class action litigation is often brought against an issuing company following periods of volatility in the market price of a company’s securities.

A large percentage of our outstanding common stock is currently owned by a small number of significant stockholders. These stockholders have sold in the past, and may sell in the future, large amounts of common stock over relatively short periods of time. Sales of substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market by our existing stockholders may adversely affect the market price of our common stock. Such sales could create public perception of difficulties or problems with our business and may depress our stock price.

We are subject to risks associated with our strategic investments. Impairments in the value of our investments and receivables could negatively impact our financial results.

We have invested in SmileDirectClub, LLC ("SDC") and other privately held companies for strategic reasons and to support key business initiatives, and we may not realize a return on our strategic investments. Many of such companies generate net losses and the market for their products, services or technologies may be slow to develop. Further, valuations of privately held companies are inherently complex due to the lack of readily available market data. If we determine that our investments and receivables in SDC or other privately held companies have experienced a decline in value, we may be required to record impairments, which could be material and could have an adverse impact on our financial results.

If our goodwill or long-lived assets become impaired, we may be required to record a significant charge to earnings.

Under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the United States (“GAAP”), we review our goodwill and long-lived asset group for impairment when events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying value may not be recoverable. Additionally, goodwill is required to be tested for impairment at least annually. The qualitative and quantitative analysis used to test goodwill are dependent upon various assumptions and reflect management’s best estimates. Changes in certain assumptions including revenue growth rates, discount rates, earnings multiples and future cash flows may cause a change in circumstances indicating that the carrying value of goodwill or the asset group may be impaired. We may be required to record a significant charge to earnings in the financial statements during the period in which any impairment of goodwill or asset group are determined.

Changes in, or interpretations of, accounting rules and regulations, could result in unfavorable accounting charges.

We prepare our consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP. These principles are subject to interpretation by the SEC and various bodies formed to interpret and create appropriate accounting policies. A change in these policies can have a significant effect on our reported results and may even retroactively affect previously reported transactions. Our accounting policies that recently have been, or may be affected by changes in the accounting rules relate to stock-based compensation, revenue recognition and leases.

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If we fail to manage our exposure to global financial and securities market risk successfully, our operating results and financial statements could be materially impacted.

The primary objective of our investment activities is to preserve principal. To achieve this objective, a majority of our marketable investments are investment grade, liquid, fixed-income securities and money market instruments denominated in U.S. dollars. If the carrying value of our investments exceeds the fair value, and the decline in fair value is deemed to be other-than-temporary, we will be required to write down the value of our investments, which could materially harm our results of operations and financial condition. Moreover, the performance of certain securities in our investment portfolio correlates with the credit condition of the U.S. financial sector. In an unstable credit environment, we might incur significant realized, unrealized or impairment losses associated with these investments.

On July 1, 2016, we changed our corporate structure; however, if we are unable to maintain this structure or if it is challenged by U.S. or foreign tax authorities, we may be unable to realize tax savings which could materially and adversely affect our operating results.

We implemented a new international corporate structure on July 1, 2016. This corporate structure may reduce our overall effective tax rate over time through changes in the structure of our international procurement and sales operations, as well as realignment of the ownership and use of intellectual property among our wholly-owned subsidiaries.

The structure includes legal entities located in jurisdictions with income tax rates lower than the U.S. federal statutory tax rate. Such intercompany arrangements would be designed to result in income earned by such entities in accordance with arm’s-length principles and commensurate with functions performed, risks assumed and ownership of valuable corporate assets. We believe that income taxed in certain foreign jurisdictions at a lower rate relative to the U.S. federal statutory rate will have a beneficial impact on our worldwide effective tax rate over the medium to long term.

If the structure is challenged by U.S. or foreign tax authorities, if changes in domestic and international tax laws negatively impact the structure, including the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act enacted into law on December 22, 2017, or if we do not operate our business in a manner consistent with the structure and applicable regulatory provisions, we may fail to achieve the financial and operational efficiencies that we anticipate as a result of the structure, and our business, financial condition and net income may be materially and adversely affected.

Our effective tax rate may vary significantly from period to period.

Various internal and external factors may have favorable or unfavorable effects on our future effective tax rate. These factors include, but are not limited to, changes in tax laws, regulations and/or rates, new or changes to accounting pronouncements, non-deductible goodwill impairments, changing interpretations of existing tax laws or regulations, changes in the relative proportions of revenues and income before taxes in the various jurisdictions in which we operate that have differing statutory tax rates, the future levels of tax benefits of stock-based compensation, settlement of income tax audits, and changes in overall levels of pretax earnings. With the adoption of the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") 2016-09, we also anticipate our first quarter effective tax rate to vary significantly due to the timing of when majority of our equity compensation vests each year. Other quarters can also be impacted depending on the timing of equity vests.

In addition, our tax rate may be impacted by tax holidays or incentives. In June 2017, the Costa Rica Ministry of Foreign Trade, an agency of the Government of Costa Rica, granted an extension of certain income tax incentives for an additional twelve year period. Under these incentives, all of the income in Costa Rica is subject to a reduced tax rate. In order to receive the benefit of these incentives, we must hire a specified number of employees and maintain certain minimum levels of fixed asset investment in Costa Rica. If we do not fulfill these conditions for any reason, our incentive could lapse and our income in Costa Rica would be subject to taxation at higher rates which could have a negative impact on our operating results. The Costa Rica corporate income tax rate that would apply, absent the incentives, is 30% for 2017, 2016 and 2015. As a result of these incentives, our income taxes were reduced by $1.8 million, $19.1 million and $32.7 million in the year ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively, representing a benefit to diluted net income per share of $0.02, $0.23 and $0.40 in the year ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively.

As a U.S. multinational corporation, we are subject to changing tax laws both within and outside of the U.S. Changes in tax laws or tax rulings, or changes in interpretations of existing tax laws, could affect our income tax provision and net income or require us to change the manner in which we operate our business. On December 22, 2017, the U.S. enacted significant tax reform, and certain provisions of the new law may adversely affect us. In addition, governmental tax authorities are increasingly scrutinizing the tax positions of companies. Many countries in Europe, as well as a number of other countries and organizations, have recently proposed or recommended changes to existing tax laws or have enacted new laws. For example, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ("OECD") has been working on a "Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project," which is focused on a number of issues, including the shifting of profits between affiliated entities in different tax jurisdictions. In 2015, the OECD issued and is expected to continue to issue, guidelines and proposals that may change various aspects of the existing framework under which our tax obligations are determined in many of the countries in which we do business.

ITEM 1B.UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.

ITEM 2.PROPERTIES

We occupy several leased and owned facilities with total office and manufacturing area of over 786,714 square feet. At December 31, 2017, the significant facilities were occupied as follows:

Location

Lease/Own

Primary Use

Expiration of Lease

San Jose, California

Own

Office for corporate headquarters, research & development and administrative personnel

Manufacturing and office for research & development and administrative personnel

February 2022

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Lease

Office for international headquarters, sales and marketing and administrative personnel

March 2020

Moscow, Russia

Lease

Office for research & development

July 2023

Raleigh, North Carolina

Lease

Office for research & development and administrative personnel

November 2024

Ziyang, China

Lease

Manufacturing and office for administrative personnel

May 2021

ITEM 3.LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

Patent Infringement Lawsuit

On November 14, 2017, Align filed six patent infringement lawsuits asserting 26 patents against 3Shape A/S, a Danish corporation, and a related U.S. corporate entity, asserting that 3Shape's Trios intraoral scanning system and Dental System software infringe Align patents. Align filed two Section 337 complaints with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) alleging that 3Shape violates U.S. trade laws by selling for importation and importing its infringing Trios intraoral scanning system and Dental System software. Align's ITC complaints seek cease and desist orders and exclusion orders prohibiting the importation of 3Shape's Trios scanning system and Dental System software products into the U.S. Align also filed four separate complaints in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware alleging patent infringement by 3Shape's Trios intraoral scanning system and Dental System software. All of these district court complaints seek monetary damages and injunctive relief against further infringement.

In the course of Align's operations, Align is involved in a variety of claims, suits, investigations, and proceedings, including actions with respect to intellectual property claims, patent infringement claims, government investigations, labor and employment claims, breach of contract claims, tax, and other matters. Regardless of the outcome, these proceedings can have an adverse impact

29

on us because of defense costs, diversion of management resources, and other factors. Although the results of complex legal proceedings are difficult to predict and Align's view of these matters may change in the future as litigation and events related thereto unfold; Align currently does not believe that these matters, individually or in the aggregate, will materially affect Align's financial position, results of operations or cash flows (Refer to Note 8 "Legal Proceedings" of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for details on legal proceedings).

Our common stock is quoted on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “ALGN.” The following table sets forth the range of high and low per share sales prices as reported for each period indicated:

High

Low

Year Ended December 31, 2017:

Fourth quarter

$

266.41

$

184.67

Third quarter

$

190.04

$

148.95

Second quarter

$

154.85

$

113.40

First quarter

$

115.20

$

88.56

Year Ended December 31, 2016:

Fourth quarter

$

102.10

$

83.27

Third quarter

$

96.90

$

80.30

Second quarter

$

81.98

$

70.03

First quarter

$

73.55

$

57.31

On February 23, 2018, the closing price of our common stock on the NASDAQ Global Market was $265.07 per share. As of February 23, 2018, there were approximately 86 holders of record of our common stock. Because the majority of our shares of outstanding common stock are held by brokers and other institutions on behalf of stockholders, we are unable to estimate the total number of stockholders represented by these record holders.

We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our common stock. We currently intend to retain any future earnings to fund the development and growth of our business and do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future.

Performance Graph

Notwithstanding any statement to the contrary in any of our previous or future filings with the SEC, the following information relating to the price performance of our common stock shall not be deemed “filed” with the SEC or “Soliciting Material” under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or subject to Regulation 14A or 14C, or to liabilities of Section 18 of the Exchange Act except to the extent we specifically request that such information be treated as soliciting material or to the extent we specifically incorporate this information by reference.

The graph below matches our cumulative 5-year total shareholder return on common stock with the cumulative total returns of the NASDAQ Composite index, the S&P 500 and the S&P 1500 Composite Health Care Equipment & Supplies index. The graph tracks the performance of a $100 investment in our common stock, in the peer group, and the index (with the reinvestment of all dividends) from December 31, 2012 to December 31, 2017.

31

UNREGISTERED SALES OF EQUITY SECURITIES AND USE OF PROCEEDS

Following is a summary of stock repurchases for the three months ended December 31, 2017:

Period

Total Number of Shares Repurchased

Average Price Paid per Share

Total Number of Shares Repurchased as Part of Publicly Announced Program

Approximate Dollar Value of Shares that May Yet Be Repurchased Under the Program (1)

October 1, 2017 through October 31, 2017

—

$

—

—

$

250,000,000

November 1, 2017 through November 30, 2017

205,000

$

243.40

205,000

$

200,000,000

December 1, 2017 through December 31, 2017

—

$

—

—

$

200,000,000

(1) Stock Repurchase Programs

◦

April 2014 Repurchase Program. In 2017, we repurchased shares of our common stock on the open market for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $3.8 million, completing the April 2014 Repurchase Program.

◦

April 2016 Repurchase Program. In 2017, we repurchased, $50.0 million of our common stock through an accelerated stock repurchase agreement and $50.0 million on the open market.

32

◦

Remaining Available Repurchases. As of December 31, 2017, we have $200.0 million remaining under the April 2016 Repurchase Program. In February 2018, we repurchased approximately 0.4 million shares on the open market for an aggregate purchase price of $100 million, at an average share price of $252.24.(Refer to Note 10 "Common Stock Repurchase Program" of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for details on stock repurchase program).

ITEM 6.SELECTED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL DATA

The following tables set forth the selected consolidated financial data for each of the years in the five-year period ended December 31, 2017. The selected consolidated financial data should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes and Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations. We have derived the statements of operations data for the year ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015 and the balance sheet data as of December 31, 2017 and 2016 from the consolidated audited financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The statements of operations data for the year ended December 31, 2014 and 2013 and the balance sheet data as of December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013 were derived from the consolidated audited financial statements that are not included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

SELECTED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL DATA

(in thousands, except per share data)

Year Ended December 31,

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

Consolidated Statements of Operations Data:

Net revenues

$

1,473,413

$

1,079,874

$

845,486

$

761,653

$

660,206

Gross profit (1)

$

1,116,947

$

815,294

$

640,110

$

578,443

$

498,106

Income from operations(2)

353,611

248,921

188,634

193,576

94,212

Interest and other income (expense), net

11,188

(6,355

)

(2,533

)

(3,207

)

(1,073

)

Net income before provision for income taxes and equity in losses of investee (3)

364,799

242,566

186,101

190,369

93,139

Provision for income taxes (4)

130,162

51,200

42,081

44,537

28,844

Equity in losses of investee, net of tax

3,219

1,684

—

—

—

Net income

$

231,418

$

189,682

$

144,020

$

145,832

$

64,295

Net income per share:

Basic

$

2.89

$

2.38

$

1.80

$

1.81

$

0.80

Diluted

$

2.83

$

2.33

$

1.77

$

1.77

$

0.78

Shares used in computing net income per share:

Basic

80,085

79,856

79,998

80,754

80,551

Diluted

81,832

81,484

81,521

82,283

82,589

December 31,

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

Consolidated Balance Sheet Data:

Working capital (5)

$

659,187

$

598,643

$

460,338

$

455,349

$

369,338

Total assets

1,777,856

1,396,151

1,158,633

987,997

832,147

Total long-term liabilities

129,670

46,427

39,035

33,415

22,839

Stockholders’ equity

$

1,150,370

$

995,389

$

847,926

$

752,771

$

633,970

(1)

Gross profit includes:

•

$1.7 million out of period adjustment in 2013

33

(2)Income from operations includes:

•

$40.7 million and $26.3 million of goodwill and long-lived asset impairment, respectively, in 2013

•

$1.9 million, net of tax, out of period adjustment in 2013

(3)Net income before provision for income taxes and equity in losses of investee includes:

•

$40.7 million and $26.3 million of goodwill and long-lived asset impairment, respectively, in 2013

•

$1.9 million, net of tax, out of period adjustment in 2013

(4)

Provision for income taxes includes:

•

$1.8 million out of period income tax adjustment in 2014

(5)

Working capital is calculated as the difference between total current assets and total current liabilities

34

ITEM 7.MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read together with “Selected Consolidated Financial Data” and our consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Overview

Our goal is to establish Invisalign clear aligners as the standard method for treating malocclusion and to establish the iTero intraoral scanner as the preferred scanning device for 3D digital scans, ultimately driving increased product adoption by dental professionals. We intend to achieve this by continued focus and execution of our strategic growth drivers set forth in the Business Strategy section in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

The successful execution of our business strategy in 2018 and beyond may be affected by a number of other factors including:

•

New Products, Feature Enhancements and Technology Innovation. Product innovation drives greater treatment predictability and clinical applicability and ease of use for our customers which supports adoption of Invisalign treatment in their practices. Our focus is to develop solutions and features to treat a wide range of cases from simple to complex. Most recently, in March 2017, we announced Invisalign Teen with mandibular advancement, the first clear aligner solution for Class II correction in growing tween and teen patients. This new offering combines the benefits of the most advanced clear aligner system in the world with features for moving the lower jaw forward while simultaneously aligning the teeth. Invisalign Teen with mandibular advancement is now available in Canada, and select Europe, Middle East and Africa ("EMEA"), Asia Pacific ("APAC") and Latin America ("LATAM") countries. Invisalign Teen with mandibular advancement is pending 510(k) clearance and is not yet available in the United States ("U.S."). We believe that over the long-term, clinical solutions and treatment tools will increase adoption of Invisalign and increase sales of our intraoral scanners; however, it is difficult to predict the rate of adoption which may vary by region and channel.

•

Invisalign Adoption. Our goal is to establish Invisalign as the treatment of choice for treating malocclusion ultimately driving increased product adoption and frequency of use by dental professionals, also known as "utilization rates." Our quarterly utilization rates for the last 9 quarters are as follows:

Total utilization in the fourth quarter of 2017 increased to 5.7 cases per doctor compared to 5.2 in the fourth quarter of 2016.

▪

North America: Utilization among our North American orthodontist customers reached an all time high in the fourth quarter of 2017 at 14.0 cases per doctor. Compared to 11.3 cases per doctor utilized in the fourth quarter of 2016, the increase in North America orthodontist utilization in the fourth quarter of 2017 reflects improvements in product and technology which continues to strengthen our doctors’ clinical confidence such that they now utilize Invisalign more often and on more complex cases, including their teenage patients.

▪

International: International doctor utilization of 5.2 cases per doctor in the fourth quarter of 2017 compared to 5.0 in the fourth quarter of 2016. The International utilization reflects growth in both the EMEA and APAC regions due to increasing adoption of the product due in part to its ability to treat more complex cases.

We expect that over the long-term our utilization rates will gradually improve as a result of advancements in product and technology, which continue to strengthen our doctors’ clinical confidence in the use of Invisalign. In addition, since the teenage market makes up 75% of the 10 million total orthodontic case starts each year and as we continue to drive adoption of teenage patients through sales and marketing programs, we expect our utilization rate to improve. In 2017, 25.5% of our volume was from teenagers starting treatment with Invisalign, an increase of 40.4% from 2016. Our utilization rates, however, may fluctuate from period to period due to a variety of factors, including seasonal trends in our business along with adoption rates of new products and features.

•

Number of New Invisalign Doctors Trained. We continue to expand our Invisalign customer base through the training of new doctors. In 2017, Invisalign growth was driven primarily by increased utilization across all regions as well as by the continued expansion of our customer base as we trained a total of 16,500 new Invisalign doctors, of which 67% were trained internationally.

•

International Invisalign Growth. We will continue to focus our efforts towards increasing Invisalign adoption by dental professionals in our direct international markets. On a year over year basis, international Invisalign volume increased 52.3% driven primarily by strong performance in our APAC and EMEA regions. We believe that the introduction of Invisalign Teen treatment with mandibular advancement is helping to raise visibility for Invisalign treatment of teenagers and contributed to some of the growth in the APAC market. In 2018, we are continuing to expand in our existing markets through targeted investments in sales coverage and professional marketing and education programs, along with consumer marketing in selected country markets. We expect international Invisalign clear aligner revenues to continue to grow at a faster rate than North America for the foreseeable future due to our continued investment in international market expansion, the size of the market opportunity, and our relatively low market penetration of these regions (Refer to Item 1A Risk Factors- “We are exposed to fluctuations in currency exchange rates, which could negatively affect our financial condition and results of operations.” for information on related risk factors).

•

Establish Regional Order Acquisition, Treatment Planning and Manufacturing Operations. We will continue to establish and expand additional order acquisition, treatment planning and manufacturing operations closer to our international customers in order to improve our operational efficiency and to provide doctors confidence in using Invisalign clear aligners to treat more patients and more often:

◦

In June 2017, we opened a new treatment planning facility in Chengdu, China which services and supports our customers within China. It also serves as a clinical education and training center for all of our customers across Asia Pacific.

◦

In August 2017, we opened a treatment planning facility in Cologne, Germany to support our customers located in Europe.

◦

In 2017, we purchased two buildings in Costa Rica for a total purchase price of approximately $51.7 million in order to support our expanding treatment planning and customer service needs.

◦

In November 2017, we entered into an Investment Agreement with the People’s Republic of China in which we have committed to invest a minimum of $46.0 million in Ziyang, China over five years to establish manufacturing operations.

36

Refer to Item 1A Risk Factors - “As we continue to grow, we are subject to growth related risks, including risks related to excess or constrained capacity at our existing facilities” for information on related risk factors and Refer to Note 9 "Commitments and Contingencies" of the Notes of Consolidated Financial Statements for more information on the Costa Rica purchase agreements and the China investment agreement.

•

Operating Expenses. We expect operating expenses to increase in 2018 due in part to:

◦

Investments in international expansion in new country markets;

◦

Investments in manufacturing to enhance our regional capabilities;

◦

Increases in legal expenses primarily related to the continued protection of our intellectual property rights, including our patents;

We believe that these investments will position us to increase our revenues and continue to grow our market share.

•

Stock Repurchases: April 2016 Repurchase Program. In 2017, we repurchased $50.0 million of our common stock through an accelerated stock repurchase agreement and repurchased $50.0 million on the open market.As of December 31, 2017, we had $200.0 million remaining under the April 2016 Repurchase Program. In February 2018, we repurchased $100.0 million of our common stock on the open market (Refer to Note 11 "Common Stock Repurchase Program" of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for details on stock repurchase program).

•

U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “TCJA”) was enacted into law on December 22, 2017 and impacted our effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2017. The TCJA made significant changes to the Internal Revenue Code, including, but not limited to, a corporate tax rate decrease from 35% to 21% effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017, the transition of U.S. international taxation from a worldwide tax system to a territorial system, and a one-time transition tax on the mandatory deemed repatriation of cumulative foreign earnings as of December 31, 2017. We have estimated the impact of the TCJA and recorded a provisional amount of $84.3 million additional income tax expense in the fourth quarter of 2017. This provisional amount includes income tax expenses related to the remeasurement of certain deferred tax assets and liabilities of $10.4 million, and the one-time transition tax on the mandatory deemed repatriation of cumulative foreign earnings in the amount of $73.9 million. Additional work is necessary for a more detailed analysis of our deferred tax assets and liabilities and our historical foreign earnings as well as potential correlative adjustments. Any subsequent adjustment to these amounts will be recorded to tax expense in 2018 when the analysis is complete.

•

SmileDirectClub. In February 2018, we received a communication on behalf of SDC Financial LLC, SmileDirectClub LLC, and the Members of SDC Financial LLC other than Align (collectively, the "SDC Entities") alleging that the launch and operation of our Invisalign store pilot program constitutes a breach of non-compete provisions applicable to the members of SDC Financial LLC, including Align. As a result of this alleged breach, SDC Financial LLC has notified Align that its members (other than Align) seek to exercise a right to repurchase all of Align’s SDC Financial LLC membership interests for a purchase price equal to the current capital account balance of Align. The SDC Entities also allege that Align has breached confidentiality provisions applicable to the SDC Financial LLC members and demands that Align cease all activities related to the Invisalign store pilot project, close existing Invisalign stores and cease using SDC’s confidential information. Align disputes the allegations that it has breached its obligations to the SDC Entities, including the allegation that the SDC Entities are entitled to exercise a repurchase right. Pursuant to the parties’ agreement, the dispute will be arbitrated if it is not resolved through negotiations. We are currently evaluating the potential impact that this could have on our consolidated financial statements.

Results of Operations

Net Revenues by Reportable Segment Comparison for Year Ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015:

We group our operations into two reportable segments: Clear Aligner segment and Scanner segment

Non-Comprehensive Products include our Invisalign Express, Invisalign Lite, Invisalign i7 and Invisalign Go products in addition to revenues from the sale of aligners to SmileDirectClub (“SDC”) under our supply agreement. Revenue from SDC is recorded after eliminating outstanding intercompany transactions.

◦

Non-Case includes our Vivera retainers along with our training and ancillary products for treating malocclusion.

•

Our Scanner segment consists of intraoral scanning systems and additional services available with the intraoral scanners that provide digital alternatives to the traditional cast models. This segment includes our iTero scanner and OrthoCAD services.

Net revenues for our Clear Aligner segment and Scanner segment by region for the year ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015 are as follows (in millions):

Year Ended

Year Ended

Net Revenues

December 31,

2017

December 31,

2016

Change

December 31,

2016

December 31,

2015

Change

Clear Aligner revenues:

North America

$

744.6

$

568.7

$

175.9

30.9

%

$

568.7

$

498.7

$

70.0

14.0

%

International

483.0

326.6

156.4

47.9

%

326.6

250.1

76.5

30.6

%

Non-Case

81.7

63.0

18.7

29.7

%

63.0

51.4

11.6

22.6

%

Total Clear Aligner net revenues

$

1,309.3

$

958.3

$

351.0

36.6

%

$

958.3

$

800.2

$

158.1

19.8

%

Scanner net revenues

164.1

121.5

42.6

35.1

%

121.5

45.3

76.2

168.2

%

Total net revenues

$

1,473.4

$

1,079.8

$

393.6

36.5

%

$

1,079.8

$

845.5

$

234.3

27.7

%

Changes and percentages are based on actual values. Certain tables may not sum or recalculate due to rounding.

Clear Aligner Case Volume by Region

Case volume data which represents Clear Aligner case shipments by region, for the year ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015 is as follows (in millions):

Year Ended

Year Ended

Region

December 31,

2017

December 31,

2016

Change

December 31,

2016

December 31,

2015

Change

North America

621.9

464.5

157.4

33.9

%

464.5

398.4

66.1

16.6

%

International

354.5

244.7

109.8

44.9

%

244.7

184.8

59.9

32.4

%

Total case volume

976.4

709.2

267.2

37.7

%

709.2

583.2

126.0

21.6

%

Changes and percentages are based on actual values. Certain tables may not sum or recalculate due to rounding.

Fiscal Year 2017 compared to Fiscal Year 2016

Total net revenues increased by $393.6 million in 2017 as compared to 2016 primarily as a result of case volume growth across all regions and products as well as increased non-case revenue.

Clear Aligner - North America

North America net revenues increased by $175.9 million in 2017 compared to 2016 primarily due to case volume growth across all channels and most products which increased net revenues by $192.6 million. This increase was offset in part by lower average selling price ("ASP") which decreased net revenues by $16.7 million. The ASP decline is a result of a shift in product mix towards Non-Comprehensive Products, primarily driven by increased SDC revenues which carry a lower ASP and higher Invisalign promotional discounts, which collectively reduced revenues by $58.4 million. These factors contributing to the decline in ASP were offset in part by price increases on our Comprehensive Products effective on April 1, 2017 which contributed $28.4 million to net revenues as well as an increase in additional aligner revenue which contributed $10.8 million to net revenues, among other factors.

38

Clear Aligner - International

International net revenues increased by $156.4 million in 2017 compared to 2016 primarily driven by case volume growth across all channels and products which increased net revenues by $146.7 million and, to a lesser extent, higher ASP which contributed approximately $9.7 million to the increase in net revenues. The increase in ASP was primarily due to price increases in our Comprehensive Products effective on July 1, 2017, as well as the impact from acquiring certain distributors as we now recognize direct sales at full ASP rather than the discounted ASP, which collectively contributed $24.7 million to net revenues. The factors contributing to an increase in ASP were offset in part by higher promotional discounts which decreased net revenues by $12.6 million as well as an increase in net revenue deferrals of $3.6 million, among other factors.

Clear Aligner - Non-Case

Non-case net revenues, consisting of training fees and ancillary product revenues, increased by $18.7 million in 2017 compared to 2016 primarily due to increased Vivera volume in both North America and International.

Scanner

Scanner net revenues increased by $42.6 million in 2017 compared to 2016 primarily as a result of an increase in the number of scanners recognized which increased net revenues by $29.7 million as well as higher CAD/CAM services resulting from a larger installed base of scanners which contributed $16.2 million to net revenues. These increases were offset in part by a decrease in scanner ASP which reduced net revenues by $3.3 million.

Fiscal Year 2016 compared to Fiscal Year 2015

Total net revenues increased by $234.3 million in 2016 as compared to 2015 primarily as a result of case volume growth across all regions and products as well as increased non-case revenue.

Clear Aligner - North America

North America net revenues increased by $70.0 million in 2016 compared to 2015 primarily due to case volume growth across all channels and products which increased net revenues by $82.7 million. This increase was offset in part by lower average selling price ("ASP") which decreased net revenues by $12.7 million. ASP declined in 2016 compared to 2015 as a result of higher promotional discounts of $21.9 million as well as an increase in net deferrals of $7.7 million primarily related to the full year effect of our new additional aligners product policy launched in July 2015. These declines were partially offset by price increases on our Comprehensive Products effective April 1, 2016 which contributed $17.7 million to net revenues.

Clear Aligner - International

International net revenues increased by $76.5 million in 2016 compared to 2015 primarily driven by case volume growth across all channels and products which increased net revenues by $80.9 million. This increase was offset in part by lower ASP which decreased net revenues by $4.4 million. ASP declined in 2016 compared to 2015 as a result of higher promotional discounts of $6.9 million as well as the unfavorable impact of changes in foreign exchange rates of $6.8 million. These declines were partially offset by the price increases on our Comprehensive products effective April 1, 2016 which contributed $5.7 million to net revenues, as well as an increase in additional aligner revenue of $3.5 million.

Clear Aligner - Non-Case

Non-case net revenues, consisting of training fees and ancillary product revenues, increased by $11.6 million in 2016 compared to 2015 primarily due to increased Vivera volume both in North America and International.

Scanner

Scanner net revenues increased by $76.2 million in 2016 compared to 2015 primarily as a result of an increase in the number of scanners recognized as we began shipping our next generation iTero Element scanner in September 2015, which contributed $43.3 million in net revenues and, to a lesser extent, an increase in ASP. which contributed $23.7 million to net revenues.

39

Cost of net revenues and gross profit (in millions):

Year Ended

Year Ended

December 31,

2017

December 31,

2016

Change

December 31,

2016

December 31,

2015

Change

Clear Aligner

Cost of net revenues

$

289.7

$

210.8

$

78.9

$

210.8

$

172.0

$

38.8

% of net segment revenues

22.1

%

22.0

%

22.0

%

21.5

%

Gross profit

$

1,019.6

$

747.5

$

272.1

$

747.5

$

628.2

$

119.3

Gross margin %

77.9

%

78.0

%

78.0

%

78.5

%

Scanner

Cost of net revenues

$

66.8

$

53.7

$

13.1

$

53.7

$

33.4

$

20.3

% of net segment revenues

40.7

%

44.2

%

44.2

%

73.7

%

Gross profit

$

97.4

$

67.8

$

29.6

$

67.8

$

11.9

$

55.9

Gross margin %

59.3

%

55.8

%

55.8

%

26.3

%

Total cost of net revenues

$

356.5

$

264.6

$

91.9

$

264.6

$

205.4

$

59.2

% of net revenues

24.2

%

24.5

%

24.5

%

24.3

%

Gross profit

$

1,116.9

$

815.3

$

301.6

$

815.3

$

640.1

$

175.2

Gross margin %

75.8

%

75.5

%

75.5

%

75.7

%

Changes and percentages are based on actual values. Certain tables may not sum or recalculate due to rounding.

Cost of net revenues for our Clear Aligner and Scanner segments includes personnel-related costs including payroll and stock-based compensation for staff involved in the production process, the cost of materials, packaging, shipping costs, depreciation on capital equipment and facilities used in the production process, amortization of acquired intangible assets and training costs.

Fiscal Year 2017 compared to Fiscal Year 2016

Clear Aligner

The gross margin percentage declined slightly in 2017 compared to 2016 primarily due to an increase in aligners per case driven by additional aligners which was partially offset by higher absorption as a result of increased production volumes.

Scanner

The gross margin percentage increased in 2017 compared to 2016 primarily due to a favorable product mix shift to our lower cost iTero Element scanner. This was partially offset by a lower ASP.

Fiscal Year 2016 compared to Fiscal Year 2015

Clear Aligner

The gross margin percentage declined in 2016 compared to 2015 primarily driven by a higher number of aligners per case and lower ASP which was partially offset by higher absorption as a result of increased production volumes.

Scanner

The gross margin percentage increased in 2016 compared to 2015 due to a product mix shift to our iTero Element scanner which has a higher ASP along with lower costs per unit.

40

Selling, general and administrative (in millions):

Year Ended

Year Ended

December 31,

2017

December 31,

2016

Change

December 31,

2016

December 31,

2015

Change

Selling, general and administrative

$

665.8

$

490.7

$

175.1

$

490.7

$

390.2

$

100.5

% of net revenues

45.2

%

45.4

%

45.4

%

46.2

%

Changes and percentages are based on actual values. Certain tables may not sum or recalculate due to rounding.

Selling, general and administrative expense increased in 2017 compared to 2016 primarily due to higher compensation related costs of $85.6 million mainly as a result of increased headcount resulting in higher salaries expense, incentive bonuses and fringe benefits. We also incurred higher expenses from advertising and marketing of $34.2 million, equipment and maintenance costs of $21.9 million, and outside services costs of $20.3 million.

Selling, general and administrative expense increased in 2016 compared to 2015 primarily due to higher compensation related costs of $47.1 million as a result of increased headcount resulting in higher salaries expense, incentive bonuses and fringe benefits. We also incurred higher expenses from advertising and marketing of $16.5 million, outside services costs of $12.2 million, equipment and material costs of $6.8 million, travel and related costs of $6.0 million and credit card processing fees of $4.2 million. In addition, during the first quarter of 2015, there was a refund of MDET taxes paid in 2014 of $6.8 million as our aligners are no longer subject to the excise tax.

Research and development (in millions):

Year Ended

Year Ended

December 31,

2017

December 31,

2016

Change

December 31,

2016

December 31,

2015

Change

Research and development

$

97.6

$

75.7

$

21.9

$

75.7

$

61.2

$

14.5

% of net revenues

6.6

%

7.0

%

7.0

%

7.2

%

Changes and percentages are based on actual values. Certain tables may not sum or recalculate due to rounding.

Research and development expense includes the personnel-related costs including stock-based compensation and outside consulting expenses associated with the research and development of new products and enhancements to existing products and allocations of corporate overhead expenses including facilities and IT.

Research and development expense increased in 2017 compared to 2016 primarily due to higher compensation costs as a result of increased headcount resulting in higher salaries expense, incentive bonuses and fringe benefits.

Research and development expense increased in 2016 compared to 2015 due to higher compensation costs as a result of increased headcount resulting in higher salaries expense, incentive bonuses and fringe benefits.

41

Income from operations (in millions):

Year Ended

Year Ended

December 31,

2017

December 31,

2016

Change

December 31,

2016

December 31,

2015

Change

Clear Aligner

Income from operations

$

564.6

$

411.8

$

152.8

$

411.8

$

371.1

$

40.7

Operating margin %

43.1

%

43.0

%

43.0

%

46.4

%

Scanner

Income (loss) from operations

$

49.6

$

37.5

$

12.1

$

37.5

$

(12.3

)

$

49.8

Operating margin %

30.2

%

30.9

%

30.9

%

(27.2

)%

Total income from operations(1)

$

353.6

$

248.9

$

104.7

$

248.9

$

188.6

$

60.3

Operating margin %

24.0

%

23.1

%

23.1

%

22.3

%

Changes and percentages are based on actual values. Certain tables may not sum or recalculate due to rounding.

(1) Refer to Note 16 "Segments and Geographical Information" of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for details on unallocated corporate expenses and the reconciliation to total income from operations.

Operating margin percentage declined in 2016 compared to 2015 primarily due to higher compensation costs as a result of increased headcount, higher number of aligners manufactured per case and lower ASP.

Scanner

Operating margin percentage increased in 2016 compared to 2015 due to a product mix shift to our iTero Element scanner resulting in a higher ASP and lower costs per unit. We also incurred lower operating expenses as a percentage of revenues as we leveraged our operating expenses on higher revenues.

Interest and other income (expense), net (in millions):

Year Ended

Year Ended

December 31,

2017

December 31,

2016

Change

December 31,

2016

December 31,

2015

Change

Interest and other income (expense), net

$

11.2

$

(6.4

)

$

17.6

$

(6.4

)

$

(2.5

)

$

(3.9

)

Changes and percentages are based on actual values. Certain tables may not sum or recalculate due to rounding.

Interest and other income (expense), net, includes foreign currency revaluation gains and losses, interest income earned on cash, cash equivalents and investment balances, gains and losses on foreign currency forward contracts and other miscellaneous charges.

42

Interest and other income (expense), net, increased in 2017 compared to 2016 mainly due to higher foreign exchange gains as a result of the Euro strengthening to the U.S. dollar.

Interest and other income (expense), net, decreased in 2016 compared to 2015 mainly due to higher foreign exchange losses as a result of the Euro weakening to the U.S. dollar.

Equity in losses of investee, net of tax (in millions):

Year Ended

Year Ended

December 31, 2017

December 31, 2016

Change

December 31, 2016

December 31, 2015

Change

Equity in losses of investee, net of tax

$

3.2

$

1.7

$

1.5

$

1.7

—

$

1.7

Changes and percentages are based on actual values. Certain tables may not sum or recalculate due to rounding.

We acquired a 17% equity interest in SDC in July 2016 and an additional 2% in July 2017 for combined equity interest of 19% on a fully diluted basis. We account for this investment based on the equity method of accounting. In 2017, equity in losses of investee, net of tax increased compared to the same period in 2016 due to a full year of losses attributable to equity method investments as well as a higher share due to our additional investment (Refer to Note 4 "Equity Method Investments" of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for details on equity method investments).

Provision for income taxes (in millions):

Year Ended

Year Ended

December 31,

2017

December 31,

2016

Change

December 31,

2016

December 31,

2015

Change

Provision for income taxes

$

130.2

$

51.2

$

79.0

$

51.2

$

42.1

$

9.1

Effective tax rates

35.7

%

21.1

%

21.1

%

22.6

%

Changes and percentages are based on actual values. Certain tables may not sum or recalculate due to rounding.

Our provision for income taxes was $130.2 million, $51.2 million and $42.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively, representing effective tax rates of 35.7%, 21.1% and 22.6%, respectively.

The U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “TCJA”) was enacted into law on December 22, 2017 and impacted our effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2017. The TCJA made significant changes to the Internal Revenue Code, including, but not limited to, a corporate tax rate decrease from 35% to 21% effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017, the transition of U.S. international taxation from a worldwide tax system to a territorial system, and a one-time transition tax on the mandatory deemed repatriation of cumulative foreign earnings as of December 31, 2017. We have estimated the impact of the TCJA and recorded a provisional amount of $84.3 million of additional income tax expense in the fourth quarter of 2017. This provisional amount includes income tax expenses related to the remeasurement of certain deferred tax assets and liabilities of $10.4 million, and the one-time transition tax on the mandatory deemed repatriation of cumulative foreign earnings in the amount of $73.9 million. The provisional impact of the TCJA is discussed further in Note 13 "Income Taxes" of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

Our effective tax rate differs from the statutory federal income tax rate of 35% primarily due to certain foreign earnings, most significantly from the Netherlands and Costa Rica, being taxed at lower tax rates and excess tax benefits related to stock-based compensation recognized as a reduction of income tax expense, partially offset by certain one-time tax charges recorded as a result of the TCJA. The increase in the effective tax rate in 2017 compared to 2016 was primarily attributable to tax charges recorded as a result of the TCJA and the tax benefit recognized pursuant to the release of valuation allowance against our Israel deferred tax assets in 2016 that did not recur this year, partially offset by excess tax benefits related to stock-based compensation recognized as a reduction of income tax expense in accordance with ASU 2016-09 and increased tax benefits from foreign earnings being taxed at lower tax rates. The increase in the effective rate for the year ended December 31, 2016 compared to 2015 was primarily related to our international corporate restructuring as explained below.

On July 1, 2016, we implemented a new international corporate structure. This changed the structure of our international procurement and sales operations, as well as realigned the ownership and use of intellectual property among our wholly-owned subsidiaries. We continue to anticipate that an increasing percentage of our consolidated pre-tax income will be derived from, and reinvested in our foreign operations. We believe that income taxed in certain foreign jurisdictions at a lower rate relative to the U.S. federal statutory rate will have a beneficial impact on our worldwide effective tax rate over time. Although the license of

43

intellectual property rights between consolidated entities did not result in any gain in the consolidated financial statements, the Company generated taxable income in certain jurisdictions in 2016 resulting in a tax expense of $34.3 million. Additionally, as a result of the restructuring, we reassessed the need for a valuation allowance against our deferred tax assets considering all available evidence. Given the current earnings and anticipated future earnings of our subsidiary in Israel, we concluded that we have sufficient positive evidence to release the valuation allowance against our Israel operating loss carryforwards of $31.4 million, which resulted in an income tax benefit in 2016.

In June 2017, the Costa Rica Ministry of Foreign Trade, an agency of the Government of Costa Rica, granted an extension of certain income tax incentives for an additional twelve year period. Under these incentives, all of the income in Costa Rica is subject to a reduced tax rate. In order to receive the benefit of these incentives, we must hire a specified number of employees and maintain certain minimum levels of fixed asset investment in Costa Rica. If we do not fulfill these conditions for any reason, our incentive could lapse and our income in Costa Rica would be subject to taxation at higher rates which could have a negative impact on our operating results. The Costa Rica corporate income tax rate that would apply, absent the incentives, is 30% for 2017, 2016 and 2015. As a result of these incentives, our income taxes were reduced by $1.8 million, $19.1 million and $32.7 million in the year ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015 respectively, representing a benefit to diluted net income per share of $0.02, $0.23 and $0.40 in the year ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively (Refer to Note 13 "Income Taxes" of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for details on income taxes).

Liquidity and Capital Resources

We fund our operations from product sales. As of December 31, 2017 and 2016, we had the following cash and cash equivalents, and short-term and long-term marketable securities (in thousands):

Year Ended December 31,

2017

2016

Cash and cash equivalents

$

449,511

$

389,275

Marketable securities, short-term

272,031

250,981

Marketable securities, long-term

39,948

59,783

Total

$

761,490

$

700,039

Cash flows (in thousands):

Year Ended December 31,

2017

2016

2015

Net cash provided by (used in):

Operating activities

$

438,539

$

247,654

$

237,997

Investing activities

(248,313

)

72,848

(166,361

)

Financing activities

(135,500

)

(95,524

)

(100,786

)

Effects of foreign exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents

5,510

(3,417

)

(3,007

)

Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents

$

60,236

$

221,561

$

(32,157

)

As of December 31, 2017, we had $761.5 million in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term and long-term marketable securities. Cash equivalents and marketable securities are comprised of money market funds and highly liquid debt instruments which primarily include commercial paper, corporate bonds, U.S. government agency bonds, U.S. government treasury bonds and certificates of deposit.

As of December 31, 2017, approximately $490.1 million of cash, cash equivalents and short-term and long-term marketable securities was held by our foreign subsidiaries. The TCJA enacted into law on December 22, 2017 included a one-time transition tax on the mandatory deemed repatriation of foreign earnings, and, as a result, we recorded a provisional amount of additional income tax expense of $73.9 million, which will be paid over the next eight years. We may repatriate cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities back to the U.S. to invest in market expansion opportunities, provide additional working capital, and have greater flexibility to fund our stock repurchase program (Refer to Note 13 "Income Taxes" of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for details).

44

Operating Activities

For the year ended December 31, 2017, cash flows from operations of $438.5 million resulted primarily from our net income of approximately $231.4 million as well as the following:

Significant non-cash activities

•

Stock-based compensation was $58.9 million related to equity incentive compensation granted to employees and directors,

•

Depreciation and amortization of $37.7 million related to our fixed assets and acquired and purchased intangible assets, and

•

Net change in deferred tax assets of $17.6 million.

Significant changes in working capital

•

Increase of $91.0 million in accounts receivable which is a result of the increase in net revenues,

•

Increase of $79.7 million in deferred revenues corresponding to the increases in case shipments,

•

Increase of $69.0 million in long-term income tax payable due to the new U.S.Tax Cut and Jobs Act enacted on December 22, 2017, and

•

Increase of $24.2 million in accrued and other long-term liabilities due to timing of payments and activities.

For the year ended December 31, 2016, cash flows from operations of $247.7 million resulted primarily from our net income of approximately $189.7 million as well as the following:

Significant non-cash activities

•

Stock-based compensation was $54.1 million related to equity incentive compensation granted to employees and directors,

•

Depreciation and amortization of $24.0 million related to our fixed assets and acquired and purchased intangible assets,

Increase of $41.9 million in deferred revenues corresponding to higher product sales along with the increased deferrals as a result of the change to our new additional aligner product policy in July 2015,

•

Increase of $40.8 million in accounts receivable which is a result of the increase in net revenues, and

45

•

Increase of $19.5 million in accrued and other long-term liabilities primarily due to an increase in income tax payable along with other accruals due to timing of payment.

Investing Activities

Net cash used in investing activities was $248.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2017, which primarily consisted of purchases of marketable securities of $390.2 million, property, plant and equipment purchases of $195.7 million for additional manufacturing capacity and to purchase our new headquarters, $30.0 million of loan advances to equity investee, net of repayments and $12.8 million related to our equity interest investment in SmileDirectClub, LLC ("SDC"). These outflows were partially offset by maturities and sales of marketable securities of $388.8 million.

For 2018, we expect to invest $200.0 million to $230.0 million on capital expenditures primarily related to operational expansion and ongoing growth of the business.

Net cash provided by investing activities was $72.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2016, which primarily consisted of maturities and sales of our marketable securities of $604.0 million. These inflows were partially offset by purchases of marketable securities of $405.6 million, property, plant and equipment purchases of $70.6 million including the implementation of our new ERP system and $46.7 million related to our equity interest investment in SDC.

Net cash used in investing activities was $166.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2015, which primarily consisted of purchases of marketable securities of $447.1 million and property, plant and equipment purchases of $53.5 million for additional manufacturing capacity and infrastructure including the project to implement a new ERP system which we started in late 2014. These uses were partially offset by $334.1 million of maturities and sales of our marketable securities.

Financing Activities

Net cash used by financing activities was $135.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2017 primarily resulting from common stock repurchases of $103.8 million (Refer to Note 11 "Common Stock Repurchase Program" of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for details on the stock repurchase program) and payroll taxes paid for vesting of restricted stock units ("RSUs") through share withholdings of $46.2 million. These outflows were offset in part by $14.5 million from proceeds from the issuance of common stock.

Net cash used by financing activities was $95.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2016 primarily resulting from common stock repurchases of $96.2 million (Refer to Note 11 "Common Stock Repurchase Program" of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for details on the stock repurchase program) and $29.9 million of payroll taxes paid for vesting of RSUs through share withholdings, partially offset by excess tax benefit from our share-based compensation arrangements of $16.8 million and proceeds from issuance of common stock of $13.8 million.

Net cash used by financing activities was $100.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2015 resulting from repurchases of our common stock of $101.8 million and $20.7 million of payroll taxes paid for our employees' vesting of RSUs through share withholdings, partially off-set by proceeds from issuance of common stock of $11.3 million and $10.4 million from excess tax benefit from our share-based compensation arrangements.

As restricted stock units are taxable to the individuals when they vest, the number of shares we issue to each of our employees will be net of applicable withholding taxes which will be paid by us on their behalf. During 2017, 2016 and 2015, we paid $46.2 million, $29.9 million and $20.7 million, respectively, for taxes related to RSUs that vested during the periods.

46

Stock Repurchases

Refer to Note 11"Common Stock Repurchase Program" of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for details on stock repurchase program.

◦

April 2014 Repurchase Program. In 2017, we repurchased shares of our common stock on the open market for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $3.8 million, completing the April 2014 Repurchase Program.

◦

April 2016 Repurchase Program. In 2017, we repurchased, $50.0 million of our common stock through an accelerated stock repurchase agreement and $50.0 million on the open market.

◦

Remaining Available Repurchases. As of December 31, 2017, we have $200.0 million remaining under the April 2016 Repurchase Program. In February 2018, we repurchased approximately 0.4 million shares on the open market for an aggregate purchase price of $100 million, at an average share price of $252.24 (Refer to Note 10 "Common Stock Repurchase Program" of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for details on stock repurchase program).

We believe that our current cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities combined with our positive cash flows from operations will be sufficient to fund our operations and stock repurchases for at least the next 12 months. If we are unable to generate adequate operating cash flows, we may need to suspend our stock repurchase program, utilize our credit facility, or seek additional sources of capital through equity or debt financing, collaborative or other arrangements with other companies, bank financing and other sources in order to realize our objectives and to continue our operations. There can be no assurance that we will be able to obtain additional debt or equity financing on terms acceptable to us, or at all. If adequate funds are not available, we may need to make business decisions that could adversely affect our operating results such as modifications to our pricing policy, business structure or operations. Accordingly, the failure to obtain sufficient funds on acceptable terms when needed could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Credit Facility

On March 22, 2013, we entered into a credit facility for a $50.0 million revolving line of credit, with a $10.0 million letter of credit, and a maturity date of March 22, 2018. On February 27, 2018, we entered into a new credit facility for a $200.0 million revolving line of credit, with a $50.0 million letter of credit, and a maturity date of February 27, 2021, replacing existing credit facility (Refer to Note 7 "Credit Facility"of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for details of the credit facility).

Contractual Obligations/Off Balance Sheet Arrangements

The impact that our contractual obligations as of December 31, 2017 are expected to have on our liquidity and cash flows in future periods is as follows (in thousands):

Payments Due by Period

Total

Less than

1 Year

1-3

Years

3-5

Years

More than

5 Years

Operating lease obligations (1)

$

61,555

$

14,799

$

23,019

$

14,164

$

9,573

Unconditional purchase obligations

683,242

414,726

173,663

94,853

—

Total contractual cash obligations

$

744,797

$

429,525

$

196,682

$

109,017

$

9,573

(1) Sublease income is not material and excluded from the table below.

Our contractual obligations table above excludes approximately $38.1 million of non-current uncertain tax benefits which are included in other long-term obligations and deferred tax assets on our balance sheet as of December 31, 2017. We have not included this amount because we cannot make a reasonably reliable estimate regarding the timing of settlements with taxing authorities, if any.

We had no material off-balance sheet arrangements as defined in Regulation S-K Item 303(a) (4) as of December 31, 2017 other than certain items disclosed in Note 9 "Commitments and Contingencies" of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

47

Indemnification Provisions

In the normal course of business to facilitate transactions in our services and products, we indemnify customers, vendors, lessors, and other parties with respect to certain matters, including, but not limited to, services to be provided by us and intellectual property infringement claims made by third parties. In addition, we have entered into indemnification agreements with our directors and certain of our officers that will require us, among other things, to indemnify them against certain liabilities that may arise by reason of their status or service as directors or officers. Several of these agreements limit the time within which an indemnification claim can be made and the amount of the claim.

It is not possible to make a reasonable estimate of the maximum potential amount under these indemnification agreements due to the unique facts and circumstances involved in each particular agreement. Additionally, we have a limited history of prior indemnification claims and the payments we have made under such agreements have not had a material adverse effect on our results of operations, cash flows, or financial position. However, to the extent that valid indemnification claims arise in the future, future payments by us could be significant and could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations or cash flows in a particular period. As of December 31, 2017, we did not have any material indemnification claims that were probable or reasonably possible.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is based upon our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. The preparation of financial statements requires management to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, revenues and expenses and disclosures at the date of the financial statements. We evaluate our estimates on an on-going basis, including those related to revenue recognition, stock-based compensation, goodwill and finite-lived assets and related impairment, and income taxes. We use authoritative pronouncements, historical experience and other assumptions as the basis for making estimates. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

We believe the following critical accounting policies and estimates affect our more significant judgments used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements. For further information on all of our significant accounting policies, see Note 1 "Summary of Significant Accounting Policies"of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements under Item 8.

Revenue Recognition

We enter into sales arrangements that may consist of multiple deliverables of our products and services where certain elements of the sales arrangement are not delivered in one reporting period. We measure and allocate revenue according to the accounting guidance for multiple-element revenue arrangements in Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 605-25, "Revenue Recognition – Multiple-Element Arrangements."

Each element within a multiple-element arrangement is accounted for as a separate unit of accounting provided the following criteria are met: the delivered products or services have value to the customer on a standalone basis; and for an arrangement that includes a general right of return relative to the delivered products or services, delivery or performance of the undelivered product or service is considered probable and is substantially controlled by us. We consider a deliverable to have standalone value if the product or service is sold separately by us or another vendor or could be resold by the customer. Further, our revenue arrangements generally do not include a general right of return relative to the delivered products. The arrangement consideration is allocated to each element, delivered or undelivered, at the inception of the arrangement based on the relative selling price of each unit of accounting. We use a hierarchy to determine the fair value to be used for allocating revenue to elements, based first on vendor-specific objective evidence (“VSOE”) if it exists, second on third-party evidence (“TPE”) if it exists, or on best estimated selling price (“BESP”) if neither VSOE nor TPE exist (a description as to how we determine VSOE, TPE and BESP is provided below).

•

VSOE - In most instances, this applies to products and services that are sold separately in stand-alone arrangements. We determine VSOE based on pricing and discounting practices for the specific product or service when sold separately, considering geographical, customer, and other economic or marketing variables, as well as renewal rates or stand-alone prices for the service element(s).

•

TPE - If we cannot establish VSOE of selling price for a specific product or service included in a multiple-element arrangement, we use third-party evidence of selling price. We determine TPE based on sales of comparable amount of similar products or service offered by multiple third parties considering the degree of customization and similarity of product or service sold.

48

•

BESP - The best estimated selling price represents the price at which we would sell a product or service if it were sold on a stand-alone basis. When VSOE or TPE does not exist for all elements, we determine BESP for the arrangement element based on sales, cost and margin analysis, as well as other inputs based on our pricing practices. Adjustments for other market and company specific factors are made as deemed necessary in determining BESP. We regularly review our estimates of selling price and maintain internal controls over the establishment and update of these estimates.

Revenue recognition for multiple-element arrangements requires judgment to determine if multiple elements exist, whether elements can be accounted for as separate units of accounting, and if so, the fair value for each of the elements, and the manner in which revenue should be allocated among the accounting units. Our process for determining BESPs requires judgment and considers multiple factors that may vary over time depending upon the unique facts and circumstances related to each deliverable. Further, while changes in the allocation of the best estimated selling price between the accounting units will not affect the amount of total revenue recognized for a particular arrangement, any material changes in these allocations could impact the timing of revenue recognition, which could have a material effect on our financial position and results of operations.

Clear Aligner

We enter into arrangements (“treatment plan(s)”) that involve multiple future product deliverables. Invisalign Full, Invisalign Teen, and Invisalign Assist products include optional additional aligners at no charge for a period of up to five years after initial shipment and Invisalign Go includes optional additional aligners at no charge for a period of up to two years after initial shipment. Invisalign Teen also includes up to six optional replacement aligners in the price of the product and may be ordered by the dental professional any time throughout treatment. Invisalign Lite includes one optional case refinement in the price of the product. Case refinement is a finishing tool used to adjust a patient's teeth to the desired final position and may be elected by the dental professional at any time during treatment; however, it is generally ordered in the last stages of orthodontic treatment.

We determined that our treatment plans, except Invisalign Assist with progress tracking, comprise the following deliverables which also represent separate units of accounting: initial aligners, additional aligners, case refinement, and replacement aligners. We allocate revenue for each treatment plan based on each unit's relative selling price based on BESP and recognize the revenue upon shipment of each unit in the treatment plan.

For Invisalign Assist with the progress tracking feature, aligners and services are provided to the dental professional every nine stages (a "batch”). We are able to reliably estimate the number of batches which are expected to be shipped for each case based upon our historical experience. The amounts allocated to this deliverable are recognized on a prorated basis as each batch is shipped.

Scanners and Services

We sell intraoral scanners and CAD/CAM services through both our direct sales force and distribution partners. The intraoral scanner sales price includes one year of warranty, and unlimited scanning services. The customer may, for additional fees, also select extended warranty and unlimited scanning services for periods beyond the initial year. When intraoral scanners are sold with an unlimited scanning service agreement and/or extended warranty, we allocate revenue based on each element's relative selling price. We estimate the selling price of each element, as if it is sold on a stand-alone basis, taking into consideration historical prices as well as our discounting strategies.

Stock-Based Compensation Expense

We recognize stock-based compensation cost for only those shares ultimately expected to vest on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period of the award. We use the Black-Scholes option pricing model to determine the fair value of stock options and employee stock purchase plan shares. We estimate the fair value of market-performance based restricted stock units using a Monte Carlo simulation model which requires the input of assumptions, including expected term, stock price volatility and the risk-free rate of return. In addition, judgment is required in estimating the number of stock-based awards that are expected to be forfeited. Forfeitures are estimated based on historical experience at the time of grant and revised, if necessary, in subsequent periods if actual forfeitures differ from those estimates. The assumptions used in calculating the fair value of share-based payment awards represent management’s best estimates, but these estimates involve inherent uncertainties and the application of management’s judgment. As a result, if factors change and we use different assumptions, our stock-based compensation expense could be materially different in the future. We adopted the ASU 2016-09, "Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting" (Topic 718) in the first quarter of fiscal year 2017 and we elected to continue to estimate expected forfeitures rather than as they occur to determine the amount of compensation cost to be recognized in each period.

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Goodwill and Finite-Lived Acquired Intangible Assets

Goodwill represents the excess of the purchase price paid over the fair value of tangible and identifiable intangible net assets acquired in business combinations and is allocated to the respective reporting units based on relative synergies generated. For the year ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, all goodwill is attributed to our Clear Aligner reporting unit.

Our intangible assets primarily consist of intangible assets acquired as part of acquisitions and are amortized using the straight-line method over their estimated useful lives, reflecting the period in which the economic benefits of the assets are expected to be realized.

We evaluate goodwill for impairment at least annually on November 30th or more frequently if indicators are present, an event occurs or changes in circumstances suggest an impairment may exist and that it would more likely than not reduce the fair value of a reporting unit below its carrying amount. The allocation of goodwill to the respective reporting unit is based on relative synergies generated as a result of an acquisition.

We perform an initial assessment of qualitative factors to determine whether the existence of events and circumstances leads to a determination that it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount. In performing the qualitative assessment, we identify and consider the significance of relevant key factors, events, and circumstances that affect the fair value of our reporting units. These factors include external factors such as macroeconomic, industry, and market conditions, as well as entity-specific factors, such as our actual and planned financial performance. We also give consideration to the difference between the reporting unit fair value and carrying value as of the most recent date a fair value measurement was performed. If, after assessing the totality of relevant events and circumstances, we determine that it is more likely than not that the fair value of the reporting unit exceeds its carrying value and there is no indication of impairment, no further testing is performed; however, if we conclude otherwise, the first step of the two-step impairment test is performed by estimating the fair value of the reporting unit and comparing it with its carrying value, including goodwill. Refer to Note 6 "Goodwill and Intangible Assets" of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for details on intangible long-lived assets.

Finite-Lived Intangible Assets and Long-Lived Assets

We evaluate long-lived assets (including finite-lived intangible assets) for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset group may not be recoverable. An asset or asset group is considered impaired if its carrying amount exceeds the future undiscounted net cash flows the asset or asset group is expected to generate. If an asset or asset group is considered to be impaired, the impairment to be recognized is calculated as the amount by which the carrying amount of the asset or asset group exceeds its fair market value. Our estimates of future cash flows attributable to our long-lived assets require significant judgment based on our historical and anticipated results and are subject to many factors. Factors we consider important which could trigger an impairment review include significant negative industry or economic trends, significant loss of customers and changes in the competitive environment. The estimation of fair value utilizing a discounted cash flow approach includes numerous uncertainties which require our significant judgment when making assumptions of expected growth rates and the selection of discount rates, as well as assumptions regarding general economic and business conditions, and the structure that would yield the highest economic value, among other factors. Refer to Note 6 "Goodwill and Intangible Assets" of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for details of the impairment analysis.

Accounting for Income Taxes

We make certain estimates and judgments in determining income tax expense for financial statement purposes. These estimates and judgments occur in the calculation of certain tax assets and liabilities, which arise from differences in the timing of recognition of revenue and expense for tax and financial statement purposes.

As part of the process of preparing our consolidated financial statements, we are required to estimate our income taxes in each of the jurisdictions in which we operate. This process involves us estimating our current tax exposure under the applicable tax laws and assessing temporary differences resulting from differing treatment of items for tax and accounting purposes. These differences result in deferred tax assets and liabilities, which are included in our Consolidated Balance Sheets.

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We account for uncertainty in income taxes pursuant to authoritative guidance based on a two-step approach to recognize and measure uncertain tax positions taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. The first step is to determine if the weight of available evidence indicates that it is more likely than not that the tax position will be sustained on audit based on its technical merits, including resolution of any related appeals or litigation processes. The second step is to measure the tax benefit as the largest amount that is more than 50% likely to be realized upon ultimate settlement. We adjust reserves for our uncertain tax positions due to changing facts and circumstances, such as the closing of a tax audit, or refinement of estimates due to new information. To the extent that the final outcome of these matters is different than the amounts recorded, such differences will impact our tax provision in our Consolidated Statement of Operations in the period in which such determination is made.

We assess the likelihood that we will be able to realize our deferred tax assets. Should there be a change in our ability to realize our deferred tax assets, our tax provision would increase in the period in which we determine that it is more likely than not that we cannot realize our deferred tax assets. We consider all available evidence, both positive and negative, including historical levels of income, expectations and risks associated with estimates of future taxable income and ongoing prudent and feasible tax planning strategies in assessing the need for a valuation allowance. If it is more likely than not that we will not realize our deferred tax assets, we will increase our provision for taxes by recording a valuation allowance against the deferred tax assets that we estimate will not ultimately be realized.

The TCJA was enacted into law on December 22, 2017 and impacted our effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2017. The TCJA made significant changes to the Internal Revenue Code, including, but not limited to, a corporate tax rate decrease from 35% to 21% effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017, the transition of U.S. international taxation from a worldwide tax system to a territorial system, and a one-time transition tax on the mandatory deemed repatriation of cumulative foreign earnings as of December 31, 2017.

On December 22, 2017, Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118 ("SAB 118") was issued to address the application of GAAP in situations when a registrant does not have the necessary information available, prepared, or analyzed (including computations) in reasonable detail to complete the accounting for certain income tax effects of the TCJA. We recorded an additional income tax expense of $84.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2017, which represents the provisional amount of the impact of the TCJA. This provisional amount includes income tax expenses related to the remeasurement of certain deferred tax assets and liabilities of $10.4 million, and the one-time transition tax on the mandatory deemed repatriation of cumulative foreign earning in the amount of $73.9 million. Additional work is necessary for a more detailed analysis of our deferred tax assets and liabilities and our historical foreign earnings as well as potential correlative adjustments. Any subsequent adjustment to these amounts will be recorded to tax expense in 2018 when the analysis is complete. Refer to Note 13 "Income Taxes" of the Notes of Consolidated Financial Statements for details on provision impact of the TCJA.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

See Note 1 “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 for a full description of recent accounting pronouncements, including the expected dates of adoption and estimated effects on results of operations and financial condition, which is incorporated herein.

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ITEM 7A.QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK

In the normal course of business, we are exposed to foreign currency exchange rate and interest rate risks that could impact our financial position and results of operations.

Interest Rate Risk

Changes in interest rates could impact our anticipated interest income on our cash equivalents and investments in marketable securities. Our cash equivalents and investments are fixed-rate short-term and long-term securities. Fixed-rate securities may have their fair market value adversely impacted due to a rise in interest rates, and as a result, our future investment income may fall short of expectations due to changes in interest rates or we may suffer losses in principal if forced to sell securities which have declined in market value due to changes in interest rates. As of December 31, 2017, we had approximately $312.0 million invested in available-for-sale marketable securities. An immediate 10% change in interest rates would not have a material adverse impact on our future operating results and cash flows.

We do not have interest bearing liabilities as of December 31, 2017, and, therefore, we are not subject to risks from immediate interest rate increases.

Currency Rate Risk

As a result of our international business activities, including the impact of the change in our new international corporate structure in 2016, our financial results could be affected by factors such as changes in foreign currency exchange rates or economic conditions in foreign markets, and there is no assurance that exchange rate fluctuations will not harm our business in the future. We generally sell our products in the local currency of the respective countries. This provides some natural hedging because most of the subsidiaries’ operating expenses are generally denominated in their local currencies as discussed further below. Regardless of this natural hedging, our results of operations may be adversely impacted by exchange rate fluctuations. For the year ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, we had foreign currency net gains (losses) of $9.0 million and $(8.0) million, respectively.

We may enter into foreign currency forward contracts to minimize the short-term impact of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations on cash and certain trade and intercompany receivables and payables. These forward contracts are not designated as hedging instruments and do not subject us to material balance sheet risk due to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates. The gains and losses on these forward contracts are intended to offset the gains and losses in the underlying foreign currency denominated monetary assets and liabilities being economically hedged. These instruments are marked to market through earnings every period and generally are one month in original maturity. We do not enter into foreign currency forward contracts for trading or speculative purposes. As our international operations grow, we will continue to reassess our approach to managing the risks relating to fluctuations in currency rates. It is difficult to predict the impact hedging activities could have on our results of operations. As of December 31, 2017, we did not have any outstanding foreign exchange forward contracts.

Although we will continue to monitor our exposure to currency fluctuations, and, where appropriate, may use financial hedging techniques in the future to minimize the effect of these fluctuations, the impact of an aggregate change of 10% in foreign currency exchange rates relative to the U.S. dollar on our results of operations and financial position could be material.

Management of Align is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Our internal control over financial reporting is designed by, or under supervision of, our CEO and CFO, and effected by the board of directors, management and other personnel to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that:

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pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of Align;

•

provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of Align are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of Align; and

•

provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of Align's assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. In addition, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

Management assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2017. In making this assessment, management used the criteria set forth in Internal Control-Integrated Framework(2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).

Based on our assessment, management has concluded that, as of December 31, 2017, our internal control over financial reporting was effective based on criteria in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the COSO.

The effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2017 has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their report which is included herein.

/S/ JOSEPH M. HOGAN

Joseph M. Hogan

President and Chief Executive Officer

February 28, 2018

/S/ JOHN F. MORICI

John F. Morici

Chief Financial Officer

February 28, 2018

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REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of Align Technology, Inc.

Opinions on the Financial Statements and Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Align Technology, Inc. and its subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2017 and December 31, 2016, and the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive income, stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2017, including the related notes and financial statement schedule listed in the index appearing under Item 15(a)(2) (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). We also have audited the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2017, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework(2013)issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).

In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2017 and December 31, 2016, and the results of their operations and theircash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2017in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2017, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework(2013)issued by the COSO.

Change in Accounting Principle

As discussed in Note 1 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company changed the manner in which it accounts for certain elements of its employee share-based payments in 2017.

Basis for Opinions

The Company's management is responsible for these consolidated financial statements, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Report of Management on Internal Control over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express opinions on the Company’s consolidated financial statements and on the Company's internal control over financial reporting based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) ("PCAOB") and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud, and whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.

Our audits of the consolidated financial statements included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audits also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.

Definition and Limitations of Internal Control over Financial Reporting

A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (i) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (iii) provide

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reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.